White House proclamation introduces $100,000 H-1B visa fee: Key considerations

On September 19, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation, “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” requiring a $100,000 payment to accompany or supplement new applications for H-1B petitions “to curb abuses that displace U.S. workers and undermine national security.” The proclamation also calls for limits on visa issuance and changes to the prevailing wage levels for the H-1B program. The proclamation’s stated goal is to make sponsoring H-1B workers more expensive for employers.

On September 20, 2025, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new guidance intended to clarify the proclamation.

We summarize the H-1B program changes imposed by President Trump’s proclamation and the USCIS guidance below.

Key H-1B considerations for employers

• $100,000 payment requirement: Effective September 21, 2025, employers sponsoring H-1B workers outside the US must submit a $100,000 payment using pay.gov with each petition. Petitions without such payment will not be processed.
  
  
• Prospective application: According to USCIS guidance, the $100,000 fee requirement only applies prospectively to H-1B petitions that have not yet been filed. After issuance of the proclamation, USCIS clarified that the requirement “does not apply to aliens who: are the beneficiaries of petitions that were filed prior to the effective date of the proclamation, are the beneficiaries of currently approved petitions, or are in possession of validly issued H-1B non-immigrant visas.”
  
  
• No impact on current visa holder travel: The USCIS guidance provides that “the proclamation does not impact the ability of any current visa holder to travel to or from the United States.”
  
  
• One-time payment: The fee is per petition, not annual.
  
  
• National interest exception: The proclamation provides that the Secretary of Homeland Security may waive restrictions “to any individual alien, all aliens working for a company, or all aliens working in an industry” if such waiver is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to national interest and security.
  
  
• Compliance and enforcement: The proclamation requires employers to obtain and retain documentation showing that the payment has been made prior to filing an H-1B petition. It further directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to enforce compliance and to deny entry to the US to any H-1B nonimmigrant for whom the prospective employer has not made the required payment.
  
  
• Amendments to prevailing wage levels: The proclamation directs new rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels and to prioritize the admission as nonimmigrants of high-skilled and high-paid aliens.
  
  
• Expiration: Entry restrictions will last for 12 months from the effective date of September 21, 2025 and may be extended.

Next steps

On October 20, 2025 USCIS clarified that the Proclamation “also does not apply to a petition filed at or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025, that is requesting an amendment, change of status, or extension of stay for an alien inside the United States where the alien is granted such amendment, change, or extension. Further, an alien beneficiary of such petition will not be considered to be subject to the payment if he or she subsequently departs the United States and applies for a visa based on the approved petition and/or seeks to reenter the United States on a current H-1B visa.”

Even with the clarifications provided by USCIS, the US Chamber of Commerce filed a complaint on October 16, 2025 in the District Court for the District of Columbia (Case No. 25-cv-3675) challenging the Proclamation. In the suit against the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, and their respective Secretaries, the Chamber of Commerce claims that the implementation of the $100,000 fee would “inflict significant harm on American businesses” and that the proclamation is unlawful, and requests the court to declare that “the Proclamation and any implementing agency action exceed the executive branch’s lawful authority."

Nevertheless, employers planning to apply for new H-1B petitions are encouraged to immediately assess the financial and workforce impact of these new requirements. Employers are also encouraged to anticipate further modifications to prevailing wage levels and petition prioritization, seek legal advice, and watch for additional USCIS guidance before H-1B employees travel outside of the US.

In parallel, employers are further encouraged to monitor US Department of Labor (DOL) announcements and guidance related to its newly announced “Project Firewall,” an H-1B enforcement initiative that was also announced on September 19, 2025. The initiative is intended to “safeguard the rights, wages, and job opportunities of highly skilled American workers by ensuring employers prioritize qualified Americans when hiring workers and holding employers accountable if they abuse the H-1B visa process,” according to a DOL news release.

In support of this new initiative, the Secretary of Labor observed that, for the first time in its history, the DOL will conduct investigations of employers through Project Firewall to “maximize H-1B program compliance.”

We will continue to monitor developments. In the meantime, for more information about the proclamation and its implications, please contact any of the authors or your DLA Piper relationship attorney.