Honestly, the news cycle moves so fast these days it’s easy to miss a headline that actually changes your life. If you're an HR manager or an international dev, you probably felt a cold shiver down your spine last September. Why? Because the executive order on H1B visas signed on September 19, 2025, wasn't just another piece of paperwork. It was a massive, $100,000-sized shock to the system.
It's 2026 now. The dust has settled, but the impact is just starting to be felt in the actual hiring pipelines.
Basically, the Trump administration decided the old way of doing things was "broken." They argued that outsourcing firms were flooding the market with low-wage labor, pushing out American grads. So, they dropped a bomb: a $100,000 fee for H-1B petitions for workers currently outside the United States.
Yeah. You read that right. One hundred grand.
The $100,000 "Entry Fee" Nobody Saw Coming
Let’s be real for a second. Most companies don't have $100,000 just sitting in a drawer for a single visa petition. This isn't just a "fee." It’s a gate.
The Presidential Proclamation took effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 21, 2025. It specifically targets those seeking entry from abroad. If you’re already here on an H-1B, you probably breathed a sigh of relief. Extensions and amendments for people already in the U.S. haven't been hit with this specific surcharge—at least not yet.
But for new hires? It’s a nightmare.
The government’s logic is that if a worker is truly "high-skilled," their value to the company should easily justify that price tag. It’s a "put your money where your mouth is" policy. But for a startup trying to hire a niche AI researcher from Toronto or Bangalore, that $100,000 is often more than the person's half-year salary.
Who actually has to pay?
- New petitions for workers outside the U.S.
- Consular processing cases where the person needs to interview at an embassy.
- Border entries where CBP checks the receipt.
The Secretary of Homeland Security can grant exemptions for "national interest," but USCIS has already warned that the threshold is sky-high. Think "curing a disease" or "building a literal defense grid," not just "being a really good coder."
The Death of the Random Lottery
If the $100,000 fee was the punch, the new wage-based selection system is the follow-up.
For years, the H-1B lottery was exactly that—a lottery. You put your name in, a computer picked at random, and you hoped for the best. Not anymore. As of February 27, 2026, the rules have officially shifted to favor the highest earners.
USCIS is now weighting the lottery based on Department of Labor (DOL) wage levels. It’s a math game now.
"The average probability of selection in the past five years was about 30%," notes recent guidance. "Under the new system, a Level 4 earner—the highest tier—has a roughly 61% chance of being picked. A Level 1 entry-level worker? Their odds have cratered to about 15%."
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This basically tells international students: "If you aren't making top-tier money right out of the gate, good luck." It’s a massive shift that makes the H-1B feel less like a work visa and more like an "Elite Talent Only" pass.
Why This Executive Order Still Matters Today
You might hear people say this is all tied up in court. And they’re right. There are multiple lawsuits winding through the federal system. Groups like the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) are fighting the fee, calling it an end-run around Congress’s power to set immigration costs.
But here is the thing: until a judge says "stop," the rule is the law.
I’ve talked to founders who have completely frozen their international recruitment. They can't risk the $100,000 even if they have it, because if the visa is denied for some other reason, that money is often gone or tied up in bureaucratic purgatory.
The "Hidden" Travel Risk
There's also a weird side effect for people already on H-1Bs. If you have a valid visa and you’re working in the U.S., you're technically fine. But immigration lawyers are telling everyone: Do not leave the country. Why? Because if you need to renew your visa stamp at a consulate while you're home for the holidays, you might suddenly find yourself classified as an "entry" case. And suddenly, your boss is getting a bill for $100k just to let you come back to your desk. It’s creating a "gilded cage" effect where thousands of high-skilled workers are stuck inside the U.S. borders, afraid to visit their families.
Reality Check: The 75-Country Pause
To make things even more complicated, the State Department recently announced (around January 14, 2026) that it’s pausing immigrant visa processing for 75 countries. While this mostly affects green cards and "permanent" moves, the atmosphere of "extreme vetting" has spilled over into the H-1B world.
The "public charge" rule is back with a vengeance. Consular officers are looking at H-1B applicants not just as workers, but as potential "strains on resources." It’s a much more aggressive stance than we saw even three years ago.
What You Should Actually Do Now
If you are navigating the executive order on H1B visas, the "wait and see" approach is probably going to get you burned. You need a strategy that assumes these rules are staying for the foreseeable future.
- Audit Your Wage Levels: If you're an employer, don't just list a "fair" salary. Check the DOL's Occupational Employment Statistics (OES). If you can bump a candidate from Level 2 to Level 3, their lottery odds nearly double. It might be cheaper to pay a higher salary than to lose the talent entirely.
- Onshore over Offshore: The $100,000 fee is a massive incentive to hire people already in the U.S. on F-1 (student) visas or those looking to transfer an existing H-1B. The "Change of Status" route is your best friend right now because it generally avoids the entry fee.
- Document Everything: USCIS is scrutinizing "specialty occupation" definitions more than ever. They want to see a "logical connection" between the degree and the job. A general business degree for a marketing role? That’s getting rejected. You need specific, technical alignment.
- Watch the September 21, 2026 Deadline: The current fee proclamation is set to expire one year after it started, unless it's extended. Mark your calendars. The late summer of 2026 is going to be a frenzy of either relief or renewed restriction.
The reality is that the H-1B landscape has become a high-stakes poker game. The buy-in is higher, the odds are tilted toward the "big stacks" (high earners), and the house is watching every move. If you're planning on filing for the FY 2027 season, start the wage determinations now. Waiting until the March registration window opens is a recipe for a $100,000 mistake.