President Donald Trump's administration on Monday released a proposed regulation to codify an unprecedented more than $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers that Trump first imposed last year but has been blocked by the courts. The fee first imposed by Trump in a temporary proclamation last year vastly raises the cost of the visas that are heavily relied on in the tech, education and research sectors. A federal judge in June ruled that the fee was illegal and blocked the Trump administration from collecting it. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing that decision while a different court considers whether a judge in Washington, DC, properly rejected a challenge to the fee by a major business group.
Trump's 2025 proclamation imposing the fee expires in September, one year after it was issued, but it directed the US Department of Homeland Security to adopt regulations making it permanent. The proposed $103,265 fee by DHS, posted online in the Federal Register on Monday to be formally published on Tuesday, kicks off a 30-day public comment period. The rule could be finalised by the end of the year. The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers with training in speciality fields and offers 65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years.
Trump, a Republican, and other critics of the H-1B programme say it is abused by many companies that replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour. But business groups and many individual companies have said the visa programme is needed to address a lack of qualified American workers for some jobs and to allow US businesses to recruit top talent. About 70 employers had paid the $100,000 fee on a total of 85 visa applications as of late February, according to court filings.
The lawsuits claim that Trump's power to restrict entry does not allow him to override the law that created the H-1B visa programme. The states and groups that sued also say that the Homeland Security Department cannot impose fees, taxes, or other means to generate revenue for the United States without permission from Congress. Amid Trump's broader immigration crackdown, employers last year registered for about 344,000 H-1B visas, down significantly compared to previous years.