Trump govt proposes $103k fee for skilled worker visa

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday moved to impose a more than $100,000 fee on employers hiring foreign workers through a highly-skilled visa program, after facing a legal setback in an earlier effort.

Curbing immigration — both undocumented and lawful — has been a key goal of the Republican leader and a persistent demand of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.

The $103,265 fee for H-1B visas would serve as a “revenue mechanism” to recoup the costs of administering the lawful immigration system, the Department of Homeland Security said in its new proposed rule.

The Trump administration has argued the visa program has been exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers, and in September 2025 issued a presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee to combat what it called “systemic abuse.”

But a federal judge in June blocked that order, siding with 20 Democratic-led states in a lawsuit that contended the fee constituted an unlawful tax that bypassed Congressional authority.

Another federal judge in December 2025 upheld the same action, finding the president had “broad statutory authority” to address “a problem he perceives to be a matter of economic and national security.” That ruling is being appealed.

In the new proposal, the administration leans more heavily on cost-based arguments, saying it needs to make up the costs of its agencies including US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

However, it also acknowledges it would have what it calls an “indirect” benefit: “US employers, if required to pay an additional $103,265 fee when filing an H-1B cap-subject petition, would be less likely to hire an H-1B worker over a qualified and highly-skilled American.”

And it says the new proposed fee “would be in addition to any other applicable fees or payments,” including the fee from the presidential proclamation under legal review — however this is set to expire this September, unless it is extended.

There will be a 30-day public comments window before any rule can take effect. There are certain to be legal challenges based on a number of arguments, including the previously advanced theory that the new proposal is a de facto tax, and that it exceeds statutory authority.

Congress created the H-1B program in 1990, and the US currently awards 85,000 H-1B visas per year.

In fiscal year 2025, 70 percent of H-1B workers came from India, followed by China with 12 percent, then the Philippines, Canada and South Korea, according to official data.

Amazon is the biggest employer, accounting for more than 9,000 approved H-1B visas in fiscal year 2026.

Past holders of H-1B visas include several prominent tech executives, including SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Critics say the new rules will leave critical shortages in fields including IT, engineering, education and medicine.