The Department of Homeland Security proposed an additional fee on H-1B visa petitions to help recover federal costs for administering the immigration system, the agency said.
Based on a projected annual volume of 85,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions, the fee would generate approximately $8.8 billion annually. The costs covered include adjudication of immigration benefits, fraud detection and national security vetting, systems modernization, records and fee collection operations, immigration court operations, consular visa processing, labor standards enforcement, and interagency coordination.
H-1B visas are currently capped at 65,000 annually, with an additional 20,000 for applicants who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution. The proposed fee would not apply to petitions exempt from the cap, such as those filed by certain nonprofit research organizations, government research organizations, and institutions of higher education.
"The proposed H-1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers," said Zach Kahler, a USCIS spokesperson.