On September 19, Trump signed a new announcement extending the $100,000 entry fee for H-1B work visas for another year, with the new deadline extended to September 21, 2027; the previous one-year limit was set to expire on September 20, and would automatically become invalid if not renewed.

This fee originated from Trump's Presidential Announcement No. 10973 signed on September 19, 2025, which stipulated that H-1B applications submitted from September 21, 2025, must pay a $100,000 fee. The government cited economic and national security considerations, aiming to reduce companies' reliance on lower-cost foreign labor.

The policy has faced intense legal battles since its introduction: the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts previously ruled that the fee constituted "illegal taxation" and "improper use of executive power," revoking related enforcement guidelines; the U.S. government subsequently appealed, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's emergency stay request on July 24, allowing the district court's revocation ruling to remain in effect. Meanwhile, two other related lawsuits are still pending in other courts, with one ruling stating that the fee falls within the president's legitimate jurisdiction over non-citizen entry matters, resulting in a fragmented legal situation without a unified conclusion.

Despite the judicial controversies, reports indicate that over 700 H-1B applications have paid this $100,000 fee to date. The policy currently exempts certain employers deemed "in the national interest"; at the same time, the government is preparing a broader independent regulation to impose a fee of approximately $103,265 on nearly all H-1B applications subject to annual quotas, which will have a wider scope than the current policy.

Alongside this extension, an executive order requires relevant departments to check whether H-1B employers have recently laid off or plan to lay off domestic employees when reviewing their applications, and this review can even apply retroactively to previously submitted applications.

The White House cited data stating that the policy has "effectively reduced companies' reliance on low-wage foreign labor"—visa lottery registration data shows that the number of applications submitted by IT outsourcing companies has decreased by 92%, while more applicants are turning to highly educated, higher-paid technical talent. However, industry stakeholders, including major tech companies and outsourcing service providers, generally oppose this fee policy, arguing that it significantly raises the cost for companies to hire overseas technical talent.

Reports indicate that even a revised version of the announcement, designed to withstand legal scrutiny, could be issued at any time with little warning. The decision to extend for another year itself indicates that the Trump administration still prefers to maintain this high-threshold fee policy through administrative announcements while the litigation results remain unclear.

Source: Public Information