by Michael Cardman, Brightmine Senior Legal Editor
Employers looking to hire in-demand foreign workers with specialized skills – such as software developers, engineers and architects – under the H-1B visa program will need to pony up $100,000 per worker.
President Trump issued a proclamation requiring all new H-1B petitions to be accompanied by a $100,000 payment, starting September 21, 2025, and ending September 21, 2026, unless extended.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X (formerly Twitter) that the new fee “applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders.” She also said that the $100,000 payments are not an annual fee, but rather a one-time fee that applies only to the petition; and that workers who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
When the $100,000 fee is required
The $100,000 fee will not be required if:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) determines that the hiring of a worker, or of all the workers at a company or even all the workers in a particular industry “is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States”; or
The petition was submitted before September 21, 2025, according to guidance from US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Customs and Border Protection.
Trump said the $100,000 fee is necessary because the H-1B program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.” He said the number of foreign science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 but overall STEM employment has only increased 45 percent during that time.
About 65% of H-1B employees work in computer-related jobs, followed by architecture, engineering and surveying (9%), education (6%), administrative specialization (5%) and others, according to the Pew Research Center.
It remains to be seen how businesses will submit payment. DHS and the Department of State are tasked with implementing the proclamation.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced Project Firewall, an enforcement initiative through which it will conduct investigations of employers to maximize H-1B program compliance.
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About the author
Michael Cardman
Senior Legal Editor, Brightmine
Michael Cardman has more than 20 years of experience in publishing and has specialized in employment law for more than 15 years. As a member of the Brightmine editorial team, he focuses on wage and hour compliance, including minimum wage, overtime, employee classification, hours worked, independent contractors and child labor.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining Brightmine, he was the managing editor for Thompson Publishing Group’s library of HR publications. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing books, manuals and online tools covering a variety of topics such as wage and hour, employee leaves, employee benefits and compensation.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
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