Trump administration moves to impose more than $127,000 fee for H-1B worker visas

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration on Aug 24 released a proposed regulation to codify an unprecedented fee of more than US$100,000 (S$127,000) on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers that has been blocked by the courts.

The fee, first temporarily imposed by Trump in 2025, dramatically raises the cost of 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 properly rejected a challenge to the fee by a major business group.

Trump’s temporary fee increase expires in September, a year after it was issued. The proposed rule by the US Department of Homeland Security, posted in the Federal Register on Aug 24, would make a fee of US$103,265 permanent. It could be finalised by year-end.

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. Those visas typically came with fees between US$2,000 and US$5,000 before Trump’s order.

The fee would not apply to visas granted to foreign citizens already in the US on student visas, who make up a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of current visas.

Debate over visa programme

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 them to recruit top talent.

About 70 employers had paid the US$100,000 fee on a total of 85 visa applications as of late February, according to court filings.

In imposing the fee, Trump invoked the president’s power under immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals who would be detrimental to US interests. The fee is being challenged by the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobbying group, Democratic-led states and a coalition of unions and employers. Those lawsuits could be amended to challenge the rule proposed this week once it is finalised.

Legal challenges mount

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 the Homeland Security Department cannot impose fees, taxes or other means to generate revenue for the US without permission from Congress.

The Trump administration has maintained that the fee is not a traditional tax and that courts have little power to question the president’s authority to restrict entry into the country.

Amid Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, employers in 2025 registered for about 344,000 H-1B visas, down more than 25 per cent from 2024 and fewer than half of the 794,000 visas sought in 2023, according to data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Trump administration has also ordered enhanced vetting of H-1B applicants and proposed a new visa selection process that would favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers. Earlier in August, the Department of Homeland Security, in a separate rule, added fees of up to US$4,500 to applications to extend the stay of H-1B workers or to transfer employees based in other countries to the US. REUTERS