Does the $100,000 H-1B visa fee ultimately take effect?
Will the $100,000 H-1B visa fee imposed by presidential proclamation ultimately survive legal challenges and be enforced against new H-1B petitions?
Flat — nothing moved in either the DHS rulemaking or the First Circuit appeal today
Skeptics of the fee surviving note the First Circuit found the government unlikely to succeed on the merits, the tax-vs-entry-restriction theory echoes the reasoning that sank the administration's IEEPA tariffs 6-3 at the Supreme Court, and renewing a stayed policy costs the administration nothing politically. The counter-case: choosing to formally extend the proclamation for a second year — rather than quietly letting it die and relying solely on the DHS rulemaking — is a real signal the White House intends to keep fighting for it, a separate D.C. district court already upheld an identical fee theory under Section 212(f) entry-restriction authority, and the pending $103,265 DHS rule gives the fee a second life even if the proclamation itself eventually loses on appeal.
No fixed date · Federal court litigation — First Circuit appeal pending, a Supreme Court review is plausible given the circuit split
A quiet day the day after the DHS comment window closed: no published count of comments, no DHS signal on finalizing, revising, delaying or withdrawing the separate $103,265 cap-subject rule, and no new filings in the First Circuit appeal (State of California v. Mullin), which stays on track toward its Oct 16 briefing close. Both fee tracks remain exactly where they were Wednesday — the $100,000 proclamation fee stayed and uncollectable pending appeal, and the $103,265 DHS rule not yet final and not yet owed on any petition.
The fee either survives judicial review and is enforced, or the courts' vacatur stands and it is permanently blocked — a discrete legal outcome with no fixed date since the appellate timeline is at the courts' discretion.
Researched Sep 25, 2026 · tracked since Aug 24, 2026 · 25 readings
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The fee is reinstatedthis is “yes”
The circuit split ultimately breaks the government's way — whether at the First Circuit on the merits or on Supreme Court review of the D.C. precedent — and the $100,000 charge is enforced against new H-1B petitions going forward.
Worth knowing: The most recent appellate signal (the First Circuit's stay denial) went against the government, so this is currently the underdog case — a bet that a higher court, not the current appellate posture, ultimately prevails.
The fee stays blocked
The Massachusetts vacatur holds up on appeal, the tax/separation-of-powers theory that already sank the administration's IEEPA tariffs at the Supreme Court carries the day again, and the fee never takes effect.
Worth knowing: A district-court vacatur and a favorable stay denial are not a final ruling — the D.C. precedent upholding the fee is real, and if the Supreme Court takes the case on the entry-restriction theory rather than the tax theory, the calculus changes quickly.
23 sources, leaning both ways
- noCNBC — Judge blocks Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa feeJune 8, 2026: primary reporting on the D. Mass. ruling vacating the fee as unlawful.
- yesFragomen — United States: District Court Judge Issues Opinion Upholding $100,000 H-1B FeeCovers the Dec 24, 2025 D.C. district court ruling upholding the fee under Section 212(f) — the conflicting precedent that creates the circuit split.
- noFragomen — United States: Federal Appeals Court Declines to Stay Lower Court Order Vacating $100,000 H-1B FeeJuly 24, 2026: the First Circuit's denial of a stay, and its finding the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits.
- mixedNews Anyway — First Circuit Blocks H-1B Visa Fee Ruling, Setting Up Supreme Court TestAug 12, 2026: frames the conflicting D. Mass. and D.C. rulings as a circuit split likely bound for Supreme Court review.
- mixedForbes — Businesses Try New Argument In Immigration Appeal On $100,000 H-1B FeeDetails the evolving legal arguments on appeal, including the tax-versus-entry-restriction framing central to the circuit split.
- mixedVisaVerge — $103,265 H-1B Fee Proposal Explained: 2026 UpdateAug 24-25: DHS's new notice-of-proposed-rulemaking (RIN 1615-AD20) for a standalone $103,265 cap-subject H-1B fee under 8 CFR 106.2(a)(3)(xii) — a separate regulatory vehicle from the proclamation fee this question tracks, with comments due roughly Sept 24.
- noNational Law Review — DHS Proposes $103,265 Fee for All H-1B Cap-Subject PetitionsAug 26 legal analysis: calls the new rule a second, freestanding charge pursued via ordinary notice-and-comment rulemaking after the proclamation-based fee lost in court, and flags that litigation is expected against this rule too.
- mixedNPZ Law Group — DHS Proposes New $103,265 H-1B Fee — Separate From (and On Top Of) the $100,000 Proclamation PaymentSept 2026 analysis: frames the DHS rule as additive to, not a replacement for, the proclamation fee — the administration's public position is that both charges could eventually apply, which cuts against reading the rulemaking as an abandonment of the proclamation route.
- yesFederal Register — Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions (RIN 1615-AD20)Primary source: the proposed rule's own text says the $103,265 fee would be charged 'in addition to all other applicable fees or payments' — confirming it is additive, not a replacement for the proclamation fee, and complicating the 'abandonment' read of DHS's strategy.
- noKlasko Immigration Law Partners — August 2026: $100,000 H-1B Fee Blocked AgainConfirms the First Circuit's Jul 24 stay denial holds, the vacatur stands pending appeal, and flags the Sept 20 proclamation-expiry date as a live wildcard on top of the litigation.
- noAILA — CA1 Denies Government's Request for Stay on Order Finding $100,000 H-1B Fee UnlawfulCase tracker confirms briefing on the merits in State of California v. Mullin (No. 26-1699) is expected to conclude Oct 16, 2026 — after both the Sept 20 proclamation expiry and the Sept 24 DHS comment deadline.
- mixedUSCIS — H-1B FAQConfirms the separate 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee final rule for H-1B/L-1 petitions takes effect Sept 9 — a distinct, procedurally separate fee track from the proclamation-based charge this question tracks.
- mixedEllis — The New $103,265 H-1B Visa Fee, Explained (2026)Confirms the DHS $103,265 proposal is not yet in effect and nothing is owed under it as of this update — the comment period runs through Sept 24, after which DHS can revise, finalize, delay, or withdraw it, underscoring that neither fee track is currently enforceable.
- noAILA — CA1 Denies Government's Request for Stay on Order Finding $100,000 H-1B Fee Unlawful (docket tracker)Checked Sept 15: appellants' brief and appendix were due Aug 26; briefing on the merits is still on track to conclude Oct 16 with no new filings surfacing this week — the docket remains quiet with the proclamation's own sunset now closer than any ruling.
- mixedWR Immigration — Court Temporarily Reinstates USCIS Authority to Collect $100,000 H-1B Consular Processing Fee Pending AppealChecked Sept 15: confirms the fee is currently blocked and uncollectable under the First Circuit's stay denial, and that the proclamation's 12-month term (signed Sept 19, 2025, effective Sept 21, 2025) runs out this week absent a renewal — no renewal has been announced as of this check.
- noReddy Neumann Brown — H-1B Proclamation: What We Know and What We Don'tChecked Sept 16: confirms the proclamation's 12-month restriction expires Sept 20, 2026 unless extended, and that agencies were directed to submit renewal recommendations within 30 days of the FY2027 lottery — a process that has produced no public renewal signal five days before expiry.
- mixedLexology — What the Pending $100,000 H-1B Fee Litigation Means for Employers and Foreign NationalsChecked Sept 17: confirms Proclamation 10973's 12-month restriction expires Sept 20, 2026 unless extended, and summarizes the three parallel court challenges (Chamber of Commerce v. DHS, Global Nurse Force v. Trump, and a 20-state suit) still pending regardless of the sunset date.
- yesMiller Mayer — Trump Orders New H-1B Restrictions/Reviews and Extends $100,000 Fee for New H-1B Nonimmigrant ApplicationsSept 19-20: confirms Trump signed a new proclamation extending the $100,000 fee through September 2027, plus a companion executive order directing agencies to scrutinize H-1B sponsors that have conducted layoffs — the administration renewing rather than abandoning the fee mechanism.
- noAILA — State of California v. Mullin docket trackerChecked Sept 20: appellees' brief due 30 days after the Aug 26 appellants' filing, with merits briefing on track to conclude Oct 16 — the fee stays enforceable at zero dollars in the meantime regardless of the proclamation's renewal.
- mixedReddy Neumann Brown — DHS Proposes a $103,265 Fee on Every H-1B Cap PetitionChecked Sept 22: confirms written comments on the DHS $103,265 rule are due on or about Sept 24, two days out; DHS may finalize, revise, delay or withdraw the rule after that, and the fee cannot apply to any petition until a final rule takes effect.
- mixedFederal Register — Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions (RIN 1615-AD20), comment deadlineChecked Sept 23: written comments on the $103,265 cap-subject fee close Sept 24 at midnight ET under Docket USCIS-2026-0298; DHS's own estimate is roughly $8.8B/year in revenue off 85,000 cap-subject petitions, charged in addition to the proclamation fee this question tracks.
- mixedFwd.us — H-1B Fee $103,265 Proposal: Policy BriefChecked Sept 24: confirms the 30-day comment window closed today; the fee is not in effect, nothing is owed on any pending petition, and litigation is expected once/if DHS issues a final rule — the same additive, not-yet-enforceable posture as the underlying proclamation fee.
- mixedSeyfarth Shaw — DHS Proposes New $103,265 Fee for H-1B Cap Petitions: What Employers Need to KnowChecked Sept 25: confirms the comment period is now closed and DHS must review comments and issue a final rule before the $103,265 fee can take effect, with no timeline given for that final rule.