Employers would have to pay the fee when filing the petition, in addition to all other applicable charges.

The proposal is not final yet. It is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, after which a 30-day public comment period will begin.

DHS expects $8.8 billion in annual revenue

DHS estimates that the new fee could generate around $8.8 billion annually, based on an expected 85,000 cap-subject petitions each year.

Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said the proposed fee aims to recover federal government costs involved in processing, screening, and supporting legal immigration programmes that are otherwise funded by taxpayers.

According to DHS, the money would help cover expenses related to immigration benefit processing, fraud detection, national security screening, government system upgrades and record management.

The revenue would also support immigration courts, consular visa processing, labour standards enforcement and coordination between federal agencies.

The department said the funds would help cover immigration-related work carried out by USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Justice Department’s immigration courts, the State Department and the Department of Labor.

Some H-1B petitions would be exempt

The proposed fee would not apply to cap-exempt H-1B petitions filed by certain non-profit research organisations, government research bodies and institutions of higher education.

The H-1B programme currently has an annual limit of 65,000 visas, along with an additional 20,000 places for foreign nationals who have earned a master’s degree or higher qualification from a US institution.

DHS said the proposed fee would be applied uniformly, regardless of whether the employer is a large company, small business or non-profit organisation.

Small businesses could face major impact

DHS analysis showed that 14,541 of the 28,649 organisations that filed cap-subject H-1B petitions in fiscal 2025 were small entities.

The department estimated that the proposed rule could have a significant financial impact on 11,051 small organisations, accounting for 76 per cent of the small entities included in its analysis.

FWD.us President Todd Schulte criticised the proposal, calling it a “massive tax on American businesses” and arguing that it was part of a wider effort to weaken legal immigration.

Schulte said such measures, along with a reported possible tax on Optional Practical Training, could make it harder for the US to attract highly skilled workers and remain competitive globally. He warned that jobs and businesses could eventually move overseas.

He also questioned whether the government has the legal authority to impose a fee that is much higher than the direct cost of processing an individual H-1B petition.

DHS defends proposed fee

DHS, however, maintained that federal immigration law allows the government to set fees at levels that recover the full cost of immigration adjudication and naturalisation services.

The department also argued that employers seeking cap-subject H-1B workers are generally better placed to pay the fee than individual immigration applicants.

The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign professionals for specialised jobs requiring advanced knowledge. The programme is widely used in sectors such as technology, engineering, finance, medicine and research.

The proposed $103,265 fee could therefore have a significant impact on companies that rely on H-1B workers, particularly if it becomes final after the public consultation process.

(with IANS inputs)