Trump administration proposes $103,000 H-1B visa fee

Published August 24, 2026 5:09pm ET | Updated August 24, 2026 5:09pm ET



The Trump administration is seeking to charge employers a $103,265 fee for hiring skilled foreign workers through the H-1B program, after a similar effort was rejected by courts last year.

The move was announced in a proposed regulation posted on Monday, the Washington Post reported. Last year’s fee was imposed through a decree from President Donald Trump and promptly shot down by Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts, who ruled that it was both an illegally imposed tax and failed to consider the wider impact. This new effort gives a fuller justification for the move and is imposed differently, going around Sorokin’s two main gripes.

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