Trump Extends $100,000 H-1B Fee to Sept 2027

President Donald Trump on September 18, 2026 signed a presidential proclamation extending the restrictions on the H-1B work visa for another twelve months — until 12:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 21, 2027 — keeping in force the requirement that most petitions to bring in foreign specialty-occupation workers carry a $100,000 payment. On the same day, the White House issued a separate executive order that puts employers who laid off staff in the past year under heightened scrutiny whenever they file new visa petitions. Together, the two documents set the rules of America's most debated skilled-work visa for a full additional year.

What exactly was signed?

The first document is a proclamation formally titled "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers." It is a direct extension of Proclamation 10973, issued on September 19, 2025, which blocked most new H-1B entries unless the accompanying petition came with a $100,000 payment, subject to very limited exceptions. The 2026 text states that the fee has been paid for more than 700 petitions since the original restrictions took effect on September 21, 2025, and that while Washington considers the restrictions "highly effective," the underlying conditions persist — hence the extension.

The second document is an executive order titled "Enhancing Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program." It contains three operational measures:

Layoff scrutiny. The Secretaries of State, Labor, and Homeland Security must now take into account — when processing any petition, labor condition application, or visa — whether the sponsoring employer directly or indirectly engaged in layoffs within the previous year, or plans future layoffs affecting similarly situated U.S. workers.
A 30-day retroactive review. Within 30 days of the order, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division must begin reviewing data from previously submitted labor condition applications to determine whether enforcement action against specific sponsoring employers is warranted.
A six-agency coordination mandate. The three visa-processing departments are required to consult the Departments of Commerce and Education and the Small Business Administration, which must supply wage, employment, academic, and industrial data relevant to each case.

Source: The official White House website, whitehouse.gov — fact sheet on H-1B program integrity, September 2026

The numbers the White House cited

The order's justification section reads like an indictment file of the program's abuse patterns, and the figures are worth knowing because they will drive enforcement priorities through 2027:

A wage gap of $9,000 to $20,000 between H-1B holders and comparable U.S.-born workers in H-1B-reliant industries, despite the statutory mandate for equal pay.
U.S. technology employers collectively requested hundreds of thousands of H-1B visas while laying off an estimated 800,000 to 1.3 million American employees between 2022 and 2026, according to the order's text.
In fiscal year 2026, the top six outsourcing-model users alone accounted for over 25,000 H-1B cap registrations.
Investigations flagged petitions supported by "questionable foreign degrees from diploma mills" and misrepresentations of job duties and requirements.

The proclamation frames the pattern as both a labor-market problem — downward pressure on domestic wages — and a national-security concern, echoing the language of the original 2025 restrictions.

Source: The official White House website — official photo archive

What was already in force before this extension?

The extension does not land on an empty table. Three prior measures define the current architecture of the program:

The weighted selection rule. On December 29, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule creating a weighted lottery for cap-subject H-1B registrations that prioritizes higher-skilled and higher-paid applicants. It was already in effect for the FY 2027 cap season.
A wages rule in progress. On March 27, 2026, the Department of Labor published a proposed rule titled "Improving Wage Levels," still working its way through the rulemaking process.
Heightened anti-displacement enforcement, under which firms that replace U.S. workers with foreign labor are first in line for investigations.

In other words, the 2026 extension adds a stricter layer on top of an already restrictive system rather than creating one from scratch.

The courtroom caveat

The political decision is settled; the legal one is not. Within days of the original $100,000 fee taking effect in September 2025, legal challenges were filed, and reporting by outlets including The Times of India notes that a court stay on the fee remains in place in part of the litigation, even as the White House points to the plunge in filings as evidence the restrictions work. Anyone whose plans hinge on this program should treat the next court rulings as carefully as the proclamation itself — the extension binds the executive branch, but courts can still reshape how the fee applies in practice.

Who is most affected?

India is the single largest stakeholder: Indian nationals receive roughly 71% of H-1B visas, as Hindustan Times reported when covering the extension. The practical impact splits three ways:

Skilled professionals abroad, including from the Arab world and beyond: the headline fee makes the route close to impossible except through large employers willing to pay, or through the narrow exceptions.
U.S. employers: companies without recent layoffs can still petition under heavier documentation; companies that laid off staff in the past year face a visibly higher bar.
International graduates of U.S. universities: the pipeline is quietly rerouting toward alternatives such as the O-1 extraordinary-ability visa, Canada's points system, and continental Europe's skilled-worker tracks — a shift multiple economic reports have tracked over the past year.

What this means for you in practice

If you are an engineer, developer, or specialist weighing a move to the United States, read these five takeaways before finalizing any 2026–2027 plan:

Do not build a single-track plan around the H-1B. Between the fee, the litigation, and the layoff test, uncertainty is now the program's defining feature.
Map official alternatives with transparent rules. Germany, for example, has expanded legal work routes over the past two years — start with our explainer on how the German Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) and its points system work.
Students have a separate, still-moving file. The visa landscape for students is distinct from the work-visa fight — see our coverage of the federal judge who froze the four-year cap on student visas, a case still working through the courts.
Strengthen the profile, not just the application. The weighted-selection era rewards higher salaries and exceptional credentials; a strong portfolio now matters more than any filing tactic.
Diversify across programs that do not swing with U.S. politics. Our continuously updated opportunities and scholarships hub lists funded programs unaffected by Washington's policy cycles.

What should sponsoring employers do now?

The new order is not only a workers' issue; hiring managers and immigration counsel face a concrete task list:

Audit the layoff record. Any layoffs in the past twelve months are now an official factor examined in new petitions — not just a press footnote.
Re-check old labor condition applications. The 30-day retroactive review means yesterday's filings can resurface; correcting errors today is cheaper than penalties tomorrow.
Reprice the budget line. A $100,000 payment per petition is no longer routine recruitment spending — it now demands explicit return-on-investment analysis.
Diversify geographies. A growing set of global firms is moving development hubs to Canada, Europe, and the Gulf rather than navigating the U.S. gauntlet — a shift that opens new openings for internationally mobile talent closer to home markets.

Frequently asked questions

Is the $100,000 fee new?
No. It was first imposed in September 2025 under Proclamation 10973. What happened on September 18, 2026 is a twelve-month extension, through September 21, 2027.

Does the worker pay the fee personally?
The payment attaches to the petition filed by the employer, not to the foreign worker directly. In practice, most employers decline to pay it except for rare, high-value candidates.

Are there exceptions?
Yes, very limited ones defined in the 2025 proclamation. Routine technology roles at staffing and outsourcing firms are not among them.

Can the extension still be challenged in court?
The proclamation is officially in force, but lawsuits against the 2025 restrictions remain pending, and reporting indicates a court stay on the fee is still standing in part of the litigation, so the legal picture can still shift.

What are realistic alternatives?
Germany's Opportunity Card and skilled-worker tracks, Canada's points-based system, and direct hiring in Gulf markets — each with documented coverage on Truescho.

The bottom line

A $100,000 fee extended to September 2027, paired with an executive order that penalizes layoff-prone sponsors, cements a structural shift in U.S. immigration policy: from an open door for talent to an expensive, selective gate. For internationally mobile professionals, the practical answer is portfolio thinking — multiple destinations, transparent points systems, and skills that qualify under more than one country's rules.

Sources

Proclamation: Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers (2026 extension) — whitehouse.gov
Executive Order: Enhancing Program Integrity in the H-1B Program — whitehouse.gov
White House fact sheet on the H-1B program — whitehouse.gov
Press coverage: Reuters, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express (September 19–20, 2026)