US floats $103k H‑1B hit
DHS wants a $103,265 fee on every cap‑subject H‑1B petition — on top of existing charges. It’s a proposal, not a bill yet. India supplies most H‑1B talent; Hyderabadi teams will be doing the math.
The proposed H-1B charge would be added to existing petition fees if it becomes final.
The Trump administration has proposed a new $103,265 fee on H‑1B petitions subject to the annual cap — the 65,000 general slots plus the 20,000 for US advanced degrees — payable when the petition is filed and stacked on top of all existing fees, according to a DHS/USCIS notice of proposed rulemaking filed for Federal Register publication on August 25, 2026. It does not touch cap‑exempt filings by universities and certain nonprofits. In plain English: regular private‑sector sponsors would face this, the exempt institutions would not.
USCIS says the charge would fund immigration‑system costs across DHS, DOJ, State and Labor, and models about 85,000 paying petitions a year for roughly $8.8 billion in revenue. The agency also writes, confidently, that cap‑subject petitioners are “willing to pay and can afford” it. That’s DHS’s view; the market will have its own.
Two guardrails matter for Telangana readers and the diaspora employers they work with: first, this is a proposal, not an operative fee — it goes through notice‑and‑comment before any final rule. Second, Indian‑born beneficiaries accounted for 71% of approved H‑1B petitions in FY2024, which is why Hyderabad tech will care. The draft also says this new fee would be separate from the earlier $100,000 payment created by Proclamation 10973 — and cumulative if both applied — while noting that guidance for that payment was vacated in June and is on appeal.
For now, nobody owes $103,265 because USCIS floated it. When Washington tries to price a work visa like a luxury condo, Indian talent is the collateral — and Delhi’s Congress and the BJP will still tell you they’re ‘pro‑jobs’ while the price tag is written elsewhere.