Trump Wants to Increase Fees for This Visa. It Could Top $200,000

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The Trump administration is proposing doubling the fees to more than $200,000 for H-1B visa applicants from abroad in specialty occupations. The move comes after fresh applications from abroad slowed to a trickle in the months after President Donald Trump applied a $100,000 fee to them a year ago.

A federal judge blocked the fee in June as “unlawful.” The Justice Department has appealed.

The initial higher fee generated $8.5 million from 85 applicants from abroad during the first five months before they were blocked in court, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. {snip}

“This is just a way to kill the H-1B program,” Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told USA TODAY about the combined fees. “This is just one of the many nails in the coffin of legal immigration in this country.”

The H-1B program, which distributes 85,000 new visas per year under a cap, remained popular enough after Trump’s initial fee that the work permits are distributed by lottery. Tech companies, health care organizations and universities continue to hire foreign workers who are already in the United States at the previous fees of $2,000 to $5,000. And universities and nonprofit research centers are excluded from the cap and hire tens of thousands more foreign workers.

But the Department of Homeland Security proposed Aug. 24 to charge $103,265 for each of the 85,000 new applicants each year. If Trump’s initial fee is eventually upheld in court, the result would mean an employer would have to pay $203,265 for each applicant from abroad.

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The visas last for up to six years but the workers can remain longer if sponsored for permanent residency, a process that can take years. Immigration groups such as FWD.us estimate there are 730,000 visa holders and an additional 550,000 dependents.

Universities and health care organizations also consider the visas crucial. Educational institutions participating in the program include Stanford University with 284 H-1B workers, the Mayo Clinic with 276 and Washington University in St. Louis with 219.

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Trump upset tech companies when he ordered the $100,000 fee on applicants still overseas in September 2025. But then he upset his supporters after defending the program in November 2025, saying “you do also have to bring in talent.” Some of his supporters contend the program should be abolished to reduce the competition for U.S. jobs.

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