Trump extends $100,000 H-1B visa fee for another year despite court ruling

President Donald Trump has extended the controversial $100,000 H-1B visa fee until September 2027, despite a June 2026 court ruling that blocked its collection. Alongside this, Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to scrutinize H-1B applications from employers conducting layoffs. The administration claims these measures protect American workers, citing a 92% drop in registrations by major IT outsourcing firms. However, business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce continue to challenge the fee in court.

H-1B visa fee extension

• ▪The $100,000 H-1B visa fee, originally established in September 2025, does not apply to renewals of current visas or to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas
• ▪President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on September 18, 2026, extending the $100,000 H-1B visa fee for another year, until September 21, 2027
• ▪The Trump administration stated that the $100,000 H-1B visa fee has been paid for more than 700 petitions since it first took effect on September 21, 2025

H-1B employer layoff scrutiny

• ▪Under an executive order signed by President Trump on September 18, 2026, the Departments of State, Labor, and Homeland Security must consider whether an H-1B sponsoring employer carried out layoffs during the previous year
• ▪President Donald Trump signed an executive order on September 18, 2026, directing federal agencies to scrutinize H-1B visa applications from employers that have conducted or are planning layoffs of American workers
• ▪An executive order signed by President Trump on September 18, 2026, directs the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to begin reviewing data from labor condition applications previously submitted by H-1B sponsoring employers within 30 days

Impact on Indian professionals

• ▪Changes to H-1B visa processing following President Trump's 2025 H-1B fee proclamation and September 2026 fee extension have prompted some top users, including Google's parent company Alphabet, to increase their operations in India
• ▪Indian professionals account for the largest share of approved H-1B beneficiaries, representing 71% of approved petitions in fiscal year 2024, compared to 12% for China

Legal challenges to fee increase

• ▪A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing a June 2026 decision by a federal judge that vacated the $100,000 H-1B visa fee
• ▪United States courts are considering a legal challenge to the $100,000 H-1B fee brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• ▪A federal judge in June 2026 ruled the $100,000 H-1B visa fee illegal and blocked the United States government from collecting it

H-1B program abuse allegations

• ▪The White House cited technology-sector layoffs, claiming that employers sought hundreds of thousands of H-1B workers while laying off between 800,000 and 1.3 million American employees from 2022 through 2026
• ▪The Trump administration alleged that some technology-sector employers used the H-1B program to obtain lower-paid foreign workers and displace American employees
• ▪The Trump administration claimed that the share of IT workers with H-1B visas rose from 32% in fiscal year 2003 to over 65% in recent years before President Trump's September 2025 proclamation imposing the $100,000 H-1B fee

Debatable claims

• ▪The U.S. should restrict H-1B visas for companies conducting layoffs
• ▪Tightening H-1B visa rules will force U.S. tech companies to move operations abroad
• ▪The Trump administration's $100,000 H-1B visa fee is justified