TLDR:
- On July 24, 2026, the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to let the Trump administration keep collecting the $100,000 H-1B fee while its appeal moves forward, meaning the fee is currently blocked and USCIS should not be assessing it.
- This is not a final ruling on the merits. The underlying legal fight over whether the fee is lawful at all is still pending, and the situation can change again.
- Employers and workers should keep filing H-1B petitions based on current guidance, but should confirm fee requirements with counsel before submitting, since USCIS’s public-facing instructions haven’t fully caught up to the court’s order.
Why This Keeps Changing
If you’ve been trying to track the $100,000 H-1B fee over the past several months, the whiplash is real. A policy gets struck down, then paused, then the pause gets appealed, then the appeal fails and somewhere in there, employers are still expected to know whether they owe six figures on top of a routine visa petition. That confusion is exactly why this update exists: to lay out, plainly, what’s actually true as of today.
The short version is that the fee is currently blocked. But “currently” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and the case is far from over.
What Happened With the $100,000 Fee
In September 2025, President Trump issued a proclamation imposing a $100,000 payment requirement on new H-1B petitions for workers located outside the United States, a dramatic jump from the roughly $2,000 to $5,000 employers had typically paid to file. The administration framed the fee as a response to what it described as abuse of the H-1B program, arguing that some employers used the visa to bring in lower-paid foreign workers at the expense of American jobs.
Twenty states, led by California, sued to block the fee. In June 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled in the states’ favor, finding that the fee functioned as a tax (something only Congress, not the president, has the constitutional authority to impose) and that the way it was implemented violated the Administrative Procedure Act, the law that governs how federal agencies are allowed to make policy.
The government appealed and asked the courts to let it keep collecting the fee while that appeal played out. On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said no. The three-judge panel found the administration hadn’t shown it was likely to win its appeal, which means the district court’s order blocking the fee is back in effect. As of this writing, USCIS is not supposed to be assessing or collecting the $100,000 payment on covered H-1B petitions.
It’s worth noting this isn’t the only fee litigation in play. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a separate challenge that a federal court in Washington, D.C. actually upheld back in December 2025, a ruling now on appeal. Different courts have looked at similar questions and reached different conclusions, which is part of why nobody should treat this as fully settled.
What “Blocked” Doesn’t Mean
A stay denial is a procedural ruling, not a final decision on whether the fee is legal. The First Circuit only decided that the government failed to make a strong enough case to keep the fee alive during the appeal, but didn’t rule on the underlying question of whether the fee is constitutional. That merits appeal is still pending, on its own timeline, and the outcome could go either way.
There’s also a practical wrinkle: as of late July 2026, some USCIS and Pay.gov pages referencing the $100,000 payment reportedly haven’t been fully updated to reflect the court’s order. Employers shouldn’t assume every government-facing page is current, this is a moment where checking with counsel before filing matters more than usual.
Who This Affects
- Employers sponsoring H-1B workers abroad. The fee specifically targeted petitions for beneficiaries located outside the U.S. If your organization paused international H-1B hiring because of the fee, this ruling may open that door back up, at least for now.
- Workers whose petitions were on hold. Some H-1B cases were reportedly delayed or shelved while the fee’s status was unresolved. Those cases may be able to move forward.
- Universities, hospitals, and public institutions. Part of the states’ argument was that the fee threatened staffing in sectors like higher education and healthcare that rely on specialized foreign talent. Those institutions are watching this case closely.
- Anyone planning ahead. Because the case isn’t resolved, employers weighing whether to sponsor H-1B candidates this year should build some uncertainty into their planning rather than assuming the current, favorable posture is permanent.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re an employer or worker with a stake in the H-1B program, this isn’t a moment for panic, but it is a moment for attention. A few things worth keeping in mind:
- The fee’s current “blocked” status is not guaranteed to last. Build flexibility into your hiring or filing timeline where you can.
- Don’t rely solely on USCIS or Pay.gov’s public pages to determine what you owe. Confirm the current requirements before submitting a petition, especially for beneficiaries outside the U.S.
Where the H-1B Program Stands Right Now
The H-1B program is in an unusually unsettled moment, with a fee fight still working through the courts and a long-shot bill in Congress proposing to reshape the visa category altogether. None of this changes what employers and workers can do today, H-1B petitions can still be filed, but it does mean the rules around cost and process may keep shifting for a while yet.
This is exactly the kind of moving target that’s hard to track alone, and harder still to make decisions around without current, reliable guidance. Berardi Immigration Law monitors these developments closely so our clients don’t have to piece it together from headlines. Nobody should navigate immigration alone, and that’s especially true when the law itself is still being written in real time. Click here to book your business immigration consultation today.
FAQs
Q: Is the $100,000 H-1B fee gone for good?
No. As of now, USCIS is blocked from collecting the fee while the case continues, but the underlying legal question of whether the fee is valid hasn’t been finally decided. The government’s appeal is still pending, and the outcome could change the fee’s status again.
Q: Does the $100,000 fee apply to all H-1B petitions?
The fee, as implemented, was aimed specifically at new H-1B petitions for workers located outside the United States. It’s a good idea to confirm your petition’s specific circumstances with an attorney rather than assume based on general summaries.
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