The $100,000 H-1B fee is not being collected. A federal court struck it down in June 2026, an appeals court refused to revive it in July, and as of August 2026 no employer has to pay it to file an H-1B petition — although the government’s appeal is still live and the outcome is not settled.
That gap between what the rule says and what is actually enforceable has caused considerable confusion. Plenty of guidance published in late 2025 still describes the $100,000 H-1B fee as a standing requirement, and some of it has never been updated. This article sets out what the charge was, who it ever applied to, what the courts have done, and what to watch next.
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What the $100,000 H-1B fee actually was
The $100,000 H-1B fee came from a presidential proclamation, not from Congress and not from a USCIS fee rule. On 19 September 2025, the President signed Proclamation 10973, “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers”, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 21 September 2025 and was published in the Federal Register three days later.
The mechanism mattered. The proclamation did not create a fee in the ordinary sense — it restricted the entry of H-1B workers whose petitions were not accompanied by a $100,000 payment. Legally that framing was the whole argument, and it is the reason the $100,000 H-1B fee ended up in court rather than simply being absorbed as another line on the invoice.
The scale also mattered. Standard H-1B costs run to a few thousand dollars per petition. At a hundred times that, the charge changed the arithmetic for entire categories of employer, particularly smaller companies, universities, hospitals and non-profits.
Table 1: Timeline of the $100,000 H-1B fee
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 19 September 2025 | President signs Proclamation 10973, “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” |
| 21 September 2025 | Proclamation takes effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT |
| 24 September 2025 | Proclamation published in the Federal Register |
| 20 Sep – 22 Oct 2025 | USCIS, CBP and the State Department issue guidance narrowing the scope to new petitions for people outside the US |
| 3 October 2025 | Global Nurse Force v. Trump filed in the Northern District of California |
| 16 October 2025 | Chamber of Commerce v. DHS filed in the District of Columbia |
| 12 December 2025 | State of California v. Noem filed in the District of Massachusetts |
| 23 December 2025 | D.D.C. grants summary judgment for the government, upholding the payment |
| 8 June 2026 | D. Mass. vacates the payment in full, holding it functions as an unauthorised tax |
| 12 June 2026 | A short administrative stay allows collection to resume while the appeal court considers the government’s request |
| 24 July 2026 | First Circuit denies a stay pending appeal — the vacatur stands |
| 17 August 2026 | Payment not being collected. The government’s appeal remains pending |
| c. 21 September 2026 | Proclamation’s 12-month term ends unless the President extends it |
| Compiled from the text of Proclamation 10973 and reported court records. Status as of 17 August 2026. The proclamation’s expiry date is calculated from its stated 12-month term and its 21 September 2025 effective date; it is not stated as a calendar date in the proclamation itself. | |
The $100,000 H-1B fee timeline
The timeline below tracks the $100,000 H-1B fee from signature to the current vacatur. The short reinstatement in June 2026 is the part most often missed: for roughly six weeks the payment was briefly collectable again while the appeal court considered the government’s request, which is why some employers did pay after the district court had already struck it down.
Who had to pay the $100,000 H-1B fee, and who never did
Much of the alarm in late 2025 came from readers assuming the $100,000 H-1B fee applied to every H-1B petition. It did not. After agency guidance issued between 20 September and 22 October 2025, the scope settled considerably narrower than the initial reporting suggested.
The payment applied to new petitions for beneficiaries who were outside the United States and who would need to enter on the basis of that petition. It did not apply to extensions with the same employer, to amended petitions, to change-of-employer petitions for workers already in the country, or to anyone already holding valid H-1B status. Someone changing status from F-1 to H-1B inside the United States was outside its reach, because no entry was involved.
This distinction is worth restating because it survives the litigation. Even if the $100,000 H-1B fee were reinstated tomorrow, it would not reach the large majority of petitions filed each year, which are extensions and transfers for people already working in the US.
What the exceptions covered
The proclamation gave the Secretary of Homeland Security discretion to exempt an individual worker, an entire company, or a whole industry where the hiring was judged to be in the national interest and posed no security concern. Agency guidance later described that exception as reserved for extraordinarily rare cases. In practice it was not a route employers could plan around.
Why the court struck the $100,000 H-1B fee down
Two federal district courts looked at the same question and disagreed.
In December 2025 the District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment for the government in the Chamber of Commerce challenge, finding the measure within the President’s authority to restrict entry.
On 8 June 2026 the District of Massachusetts reached the opposite conclusion in the challenge brought by a group of states, and vacated the payment in its entirety. The core of that ruling was that a mandatory six-figure charge attached to a visa petition functions as a tax, and the power to impose taxes belongs to Congress. Entry-restriction authority, the court held, does not stretch to raising revenue.
Vacatur is broader than an injunction. It removes the policy rather than merely barring its enforcement against the parties who sued, which is why the effect was immediate and nationwide.
Table 2: Where each $100,000 H-1B fee case stands
| Case | Court | Ruling | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber of Commerce v. DHS | D.D.C. | Upheld the payment, 23 December 2025 | Under review by the D.C. Circuit |
| State of California v. Noem (later captioned v. Mullin) | D. Mass. | Vacated the payment in full, 8 June 2026 | Vacatur in force nationwide; government appealing |
| State of California v. Noem (later captioned v. Mullin) | 1st Cir. | Denied a stay pending appeal, 24 July 2026 | Merits of the appeal not yet heard |
| Global Nurse Force v. Trump | N.D. Cal. | Filed 3 October 2025 | No merits decision reported |
| Status as of 17 August 2026. The District of Massachusetts case was filed against Secretary Noem and appears in later filings under a substituted respondent; both captions refer to the same proceeding. No Supreme Court petition has been granted. | |||
Where each $100,000 H-1B fee case stands now
The government asked the First Circuit to pause the vacatur while it appealed. On 24 July 2026 the court declined. That ruling decided only the stay question — the merits of the appeal have not been heard, and a decision either way could be appealed further.
Because the two district courts split, the possibility of Supreme Court review is real. Nothing has been granted, and no timetable exists.
Is the $100,000 H-1B fee being collected right now?
No. As of 17 August 2026 the $100,000 H-1B fee is not required and petitions are being processed without it. Employers who had petitions held pending payment should expect those to move forward.
The honest caveat is that this has already changed direction twice in three months. Anyone filing a petition that would have fallen within scope should confirm the position on the day of filing rather than relying on an article, this one included.
Refunds for employers who already paid the $100,000 H-1B fee
There is no refund process for the $100,000 H-1B fee. The June 2026 vacatur did not establish one, and no agency has published guidance on recovering payments made either before the district court ruling or during the brief window when collection resumed.
The consistent advice from immigration counsel is to keep complete documentation of anything paid — the receipt, the petition it attached to, and the filing date — because a refund mechanism, if one ever appears, will require proof of exactly those things. Employers in this position should be taking their own legal advice rather than waiting for an announcement.
What happens to the $100,000 H-1B fee in September 2026
Proclamation 10973 was written to run for 12 months from its effective date, which puts its expiry at around 21 September 2026 unless the President extends it. The proclamation also contemplated a recommendation on extension following the subsequent H-1B lottery.
This creates an odd situation. The $100,000 H-1B fee could cease to exist by its own terms while the appeal over whether it was ever lawful is still being briefed. An expiry would not resolve the legal question — it would leave the D.C. and Massachusetts rulings in conflict, and would not by itself create refunds — but it would remove the practical risk of reinstatement for petitions filed afterwards.
Whether the proclamation is extended, allowed to lapse, or replaced with something structured differently is the single most useful thing to watch between now and late September.
What this means if you are filing now
For most employers, nothing changes. The petition types that make up the bulk of H-1B filings were never within scope, and the standard fee schedule — the I-129 filing fee, ACWIA, fraud prevention, the Asylum Program Fee, the $4,000 charge for certain large H-1B-dependent employers, and premium processing if used — is what actually applies. The full picture of H-1B visa rules for 2026 covers those in detail.
For petitions involving a worker abroad, the position today is that no six-figure payment is due. Budgeting for a possible reinstatement is prudent for filings planned before the appeal is decided; treating the $100,000 H-1B fee as a settled cost of hiring is not accurate.
It is also worth separating this from the other changes that took effect over the same period. The move to wage-level weighted selection in the lottery, the mandatory interview requirement and the fee adjustments are all independent of the proclamation and none of them were affected by the litigation. The broader set of H-1B visa changes in 2026 sets out how they fit together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the $100,000 H-1B fee still in effect?
No. It was vacated by a federal court on 8 June 2026 and the First Circuit declined to reinstate it on 24 July 2026. It is not being collected as of 17 August 2026. The government’s appeal is still pending, so the position could change.
Did the $100,000 H-1B fee apply to H-1B extensions or transfers?
No. It applied to new petitions for workers outside the United States who needed to enter on that petition. Extensions with the same employer, amended petitions, change-of-employer petitions for workers already in the US, and change-of-status applications filed from inside the country were all outside its scope.
Can employers who paid the $100,000 H-1B fee get a refund?
Not at present. No refund process has been established by any agency. Employers who paid should retain full documentation of the payment and the petition it related to, and take legal advice on their position.
Does the $100,000 H-1B fee affect the H-1B lottery?
No. Lottery registration and the wage-level weighted selection process are governed separately and were not changed by the proclamation. The payment, when it was enforceable, applied at the petition stage after selection — not at registration.
What happens to the $100,000 H-1B fee in September 2026?
Proclamation 10973 was written to last 12 months from its 21 September 2025 effective date, so it is due to expire around 21 September 2026 unless extended. Expiry would end the practical risk of reinstatement for later filings but would not resolve the underlying legal dispute or create refunds.
Which H-1B fees do employers actually have to pay in 2026?
The standard schedule: the I-129 petition fee, the ACWIA training fee where it applies, the fraud prevention and detection fee, the Asylum Program Fee, the $4,000 charge that applies to certain large employers with a high proportion of H-1B and L-1 staff, and premium processing where the employer chooses it. Legal costs are separate.