This is the only page in this library where the law moved while we were writing it, and it will keep moving. What follows is the state of play, with dates, so that you can tell how old this is when you read it.
Checked against USCIS on 26 October 2026.
The sequence
19 September 2025. A presidential proclamation, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, conditioned new H-1B petitions on an additional payment of US$ 100,000. It took effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on 21 September 2025 and reached petitions filed after that moment — not previously issued visas, and not petitions already filed.
USCIS stated the consequence plainly at the time: petitions subject to the payment, filed without evidence of payment or a grant of exception, would be denied.
8 June 2026. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the agency guidance implementing the payment requirement.
24 July 2026. The government asked the First Circuit to stay that order while it appealed. The First Circuit denied the motion. DHS said it disagrees but will comply with the court's order while it considers next steps.
What that means right now
The payment is not being enforced. An H-1B petition filed today is not conditioned on US$ 100,000.
What it is not: settled. The underlying appeal is live, the proclamation itself was not what the court vacated, and the policy direction behind it has not changed. Treat this as a litigation position that currently favours petitioners, not as a question that has been answered.
The separate US$ 103,265 proposal
A different thing, frequently confused with the first.
DHS has proposed a filing fee of US$ 103,265 for cap-subject H-1B petitions, in addition to all other applicable fees. It was published in the Federal Register.
A proposal is not a rule. It is not in force, it goes through a comment process, and what emerges can differ from what was proposed or not emerge at all. If someone quotes you this number as a current cost, they have confused a proposal with law.
Why we are not predicting the outcome
Because we would be guessing, and a page that guesses is worse than no page. What this one does is give you the dates and the sources so you can check whether anything has moved since.
If an H-1B decision in front of you turns on this, confirm the position on the day — with the attorney of record, against the state of the litigation at that moment. A general page, however carefully dated, is not a safe thing to file on.
Where this fits
The structural facts about the category have not changed through any of this: the H-1B is petitioned by an employer, requires a specialty occupation and a certified labor condition application, and for most people is preceded by a lottery that is not a merits test. Those are on the H-1B page.
For people whose records are strong enough that the lottery is the binding constraint rather than the standard, the categories without a petitioner are EB-1A and EB-2 NIW — compared in EB-1A or EB-2 NIW.