A proposed rule to enshrine an extraordinary charge of over $100,000 on new H-1B visas for highly qualified foreign workers was revealed by President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, but it has been halted by the courts. The price significantly increases the cost of visas that are crucial to the tech, education, and research industries. Trump originally temporarily imposed the fee last year. In June, a federal judge declared the fee unlawful and prevented the Trump administration from collecting it. While another court examines whether a judge correctly denied a challenge to the fee by a significant business group, an appeals court in Boston is revisiting that ruling.
One year after it was announced, Trump’s temporary fee increase expires in September. A $103,265 fee would become permanent under the US Department of Homeland Security’s proposed rule, which was published in the Federal Register on Monday. By the end of the year, it might be completed. The H-1B program, which grants 65,000 visas annually and an additional 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, permits US firms to hire foreign workers with training in specialized industries for three to six years. Prior to Trump’s order, the visas usually cost between $2,000 and $5,000. Renewals of existing visas and visas issued to foreign nationals currently in the country on student visas, which account for a significant portion of new H-1B grantees, would not be subject to the charge.
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