In a bombshell move for corporate mobility budgets, the Department of Homeland Security has proposed a one-time $103,265 fee on every H-1B petition counted against the annual cap. The notice of proposed rule-making, published August 25 and highlighted in trade press on September 28, would add the new charge—payable at filing—on top of all existing USCIS filing fees, anti-fraud fees and the controversial $100,000 Proclamation 10973 payment that remains enjoined by the courts. USCIS says the fee would create a “dedicated revenue mechanism” to help multiple federal agencies recover costs of administering the lawful immigration system. The 30-day comment period closed September 24, an unusually short window that suggests DHS hopes to finalize the rule before the FY-2028 H-1B registration season opens in March 2027. If adopted unchanged, the rule would multiply total costs for employers: a mid-sized company filing 12 cap petitions would see its direct USCIS fee outlay jump from roughly $50,000 to more than $1.2 million, before attorney fees. Cap-exempt petitions filed by universities and nonprofit research institutions would not be subject to the surcharge, creating a two-tier labor market. Critics argue the fee effectively prices most small and medium employers—and many tech start-ups—out of the H-1B lottery, undercutting U.S. competitiveness. Business groups are expected to challenge the rule under the APA and user-fee statutes, contending that fees must be “reasonably related” to the service provided. Mobility teams should model worst-case budgets for FY-2028 and explore cap-exempt strategies, including university affiliates, J-1 research programs and near-shore assignments, while monitoring for litigation that could delay or block the fee.
Source: I-9 Intelligence
