ads
THE $100,000 FEE
The $100,000 H-1B Fee: The Full Truth About Who Pays and Who Doesn’t
When President Trump signed the Presidential Proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, headlines across India treated it as a death blow to the program. Many believed every H-1B applicant would now need to pay over one crore rupees just for the privilege of working in America.
The reality is more nuanced — but still dramatic.
Who MUST pay the $100,000 fee:
The fee applies specifically to new H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries who are outside the United States at the time the petition is filed. This means if you are sitting in Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Pune and your U.S. employer selects you in the March 2026 lottery and files a petition on your behalf, the employer will need to pay $100,000 on top of all existing filing fees.
Combined with existing fraud prevention and ACWIA levies, the total filing cost for many employers now exceeds $106,000 per petition.
ads
Who is EXEMPT from the $100,000 fee:
- Applicants already in the United States — if you are on F-1 OPT/STEM OPT, or on another valid visa status and the employer files for a Change of Status to H-1B, the $100,000 fee does not apply
- Current H-1B holders renewing or extending their visas
- H-1B transfers between employers
- L-1, O-1, and other non-H-1B visa categories
This creates a massive strategic advantage for Indian professionals who are already physically present in the U.S. — typically those who studied at American universities and are currently on OPT or STEM OPT. Approximately three-quarters of current H-1B workers graduated from a U.S. institution, meaning most first-time applicants may effectively be exempt.
What this means for Indian IT workers applying from India:
If you are applying from India and your employer has to pay $106,000+ just to file your petition, many companies — especially mid-size firms and startups — will simply choose not to sponsor you. Large companies like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro have already significantly reduced their H-1B dependency according to Nasscom, instead increasing local U.S. hiring.
The $100,000 fee essentially creates a two-tier system: applicants already in the U.S. have a clear path forward, while applicants from India face a massive financial barrier that their employer may not be willing to absorb.
ads
The lawsuits: Multiple legal challenges have been filed against the $100,000 fee, including by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Universities. However, a federal judge in the District of Columbia rejected one of these challenges in late December 2025. The fee remains in effect as of this writing.
[NEXT PAGE: How These Changes Specifically Impact Indian Applicants →]
