If you’ve been keeping an eye on the immigration landscape lately, you know things are getting expensive. Fast. For years, the H-1B visa was the "bread and butter" of the tech world and specialized industries, but a massive wave of fee hikes has basically flipped the script on how companies recruit. Honestly, the days of sponsoring a dozen engineers for a few thousand bucks are long gone.
The most jarring shift came with a presidential proclamation in late 2025 that slapped a $100,000 fee on certain new H-1B petitions. It sounds like a typo, but it’s real. This "tariff on labor," as some experts call it, specifically targets workers who are currently outside the U.S. and don't already have a valid visa. If you're a small startup in Austin trying to pull a specialist from Bangalore, you're suddenly looking at a six-figure barrier before they even step foot on a plane.
The Real Cost Breakdown of the H-1B Visa Fee Increase
It isn't just the $100k headline. The entire fee schedule has been overhauled by USCIS. Even if you dodge the massive entry fee because your candidate is already in the U.S. (like a student on an F-1 visa), the "standard" costs have still climbed.
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Basically, the H-1B registration fee—the little $10 entry fee for the lottery—is a thing of the past. Starting with the FY 2026 cap season, that fee jumped to **$215 per beneficiary**. That’s a 2,050% increase. While $215 won't break a Fortune 500 company, it definitely adds up when you're registering fifty people just to hope five of them get picked.
Then there’s the Asylum Program Fee. This is a relatively new addition that caught a lot of folks off guard. It’s a $600 surcharge for large employers (those with more than 25 full-time employees) added to every I-129 and I-140 petition. If you’re a "small employer" (25 or fewer workers), you get a bit of a break at $300, and non-profits are totally exempt. But for everyone else, it’s just one more line item in an increasingly bloated budget.
Premium Processing is Getting More Prone to Inflation
If you’re in a hurry—and in business, who isn’t?—you likely use Premium Processing. USCIS just announced another hike here too. As of March 1, 2026, the fee for Form I-907 is jumping to $2,965. They’re basing this on inflation data from 2023 to 2025. It’s a "pay to play" system that now costs nearly three grand just to get an answer in 15 business days.
Who Actually Has to Pay the $100,000 Fee?
There is a lot of confusion about this. People are panicking, thinking every H-1B extension will cost $100k. That’s not the case.
The $100,000 fee is primarily triggered when an employer files a petition for someone outside the United States who doesn't have a valid H-1B visa stamp. USCIS clarified in late 2025 that this fee generally won't apply to:
- Change of Status: If a student is already here on an F-1 visa and switches to H-1B.
- Extensions: If your current H-1B worker is just renewing their stay with the same company.
- Amendments: If the job location or duties change but the person is already in H-1B status.
However, the "National Interest" exemption is the one everyone is talking about. The Department of Homeland Security has the power to waive the fee if the worker is in a role or industry deemed vital to the U.S. But "vital" is a blurry word. Does an AI researcher at a mid-sized firm count? We're still waiting for clear precedents on that one.
The "Small Business" Squeeze
If you're Google or Amazon, you've got the cash. You might not like the H-1B visa fee increase, but you'll pay it for the right talent. For a 10-person cybersecurity firm, though, a $100,000 fee is basically a "No Foreign Talent Allowed" sign.
Erik Gordon from the University of Michigan pointed out recently that this gives a massive advantage to big tech. They can just hire people in their offices in Vancouver or Dublin to avoid the fees, while small U.S. companies don't have that "out." They either pay the "tariff" or they lose the talent.
Actionable Strategy: Navigating the New Fees
Waiting around for the fees to go back down is a bad plan. They won't. If you're managing a team and need global expertise, you have to pivot your immigration strategy immediately.
Prioritize On-Shore Candidates
Focus your recruiting on people already in the U.S. This includes F-1 students on OPT or workers already on H-1B looking to transfer. By doing a "Change of Status" rather than "Consular Notification," you bypass that $100k fee. It makes the domestic talent pool of international graduates much more valuable overnight.
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Check for Small Employer Status
Verify your "Full-Time Equivalent" (FTE) count. If you can stay under the 25-employee mark, you pay $460 for the I-129 instead of $780, and your Asylum Program Fee is cut in half. Every little bit helps when the total cost per hire is creeping toward five figures (or six).
Consider the EB-1A or O-1 Pathways
For high-level talent, the O-1 "Extraordinary Ability" visa or the EB-1A green card might actually be cheaper now. An EB-1A doesn't require a lottery and costs roughly $3,000 to $10,000 in total fees. If your candidate is a rockstar, skipping the H-1B mess entirely could save you a fortune.
Budget for the "Business Day" Shift
Remember that Premium Processing is now calculated in business days, not calendar days. This seems small, but it adds a week to your timeline. If you have a hard start date, you need to file earlier than you used to.
The landscape is definitely tougher. The government’s goal is clearly to make hiring American the default by making hiring foreign talent a luxury. Whether that helps the economy or just pushes innovation to other countries is a debate that's going to rage for years. For now, the best move is to audit your 2026 hiring budget and assume that every "New" H-1B is going to cost you significantly more than it did two years ago.