Overview
- The White House issued a presidential proclamation on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, extending the Sept. 2025 order that conditions many new H-1B admissions on a $100,000 employer payment and directing tighter interagency scrutiny of petitions.
- A federal district judge vacated the fee in June and barred the government from collecting it, and that block remains subject to appeals in a Boston-based court and other pending litigation.
- The proclamation targets H-1B petitions for workers outside the United States and excludes many petition renewals and beneficiaries already in the U.S. on student visas while giving the Homeland Security secretary discretionary waiver authority.
- The administration says the policy has produced sharp shifts in filings, citing more than 700 petitions that paid the amount and a 92% drop in registrations by large IT outsourcing firms, figures provided by the White House.
- A separate DHS proposal would impose an additional roughly $103,265 cap-subject fee, creating the possibility of layered costs for employers and prompting companies to shift hiring strategies and expand operations in places such as India.