H-1B Sponsorship Could Get a Lot More Expensive
DHS put in a proposed rule on August 25 to have a $103,265 fee on every new H-1B, and it would change the math on sponsorship for almost every private employer.
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The employer would pay it at filing, on top of the regular fees, which can total about $6,345 for a large company using Premium Processing.
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I don't know many companies that could justify that for one hire. For most private employers, it would take sponsorship off the table.
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The exemptions are narrow: cap-exempt employers, meaning universities and nonprofits affiliated with them. That's a small slice of the H-1Bs out there. People already in H-1B status aren't going through the lottery again, so extensions and most employer changes would sit outside it.
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This isn't the $100,000 fee from last year. That one came from a proclamation and only reached workers abroad who needed consular processing. A federal court found it unlawful. This proposal is broader. It covers anyone selected in the lottery, including students already here who get picked.
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The stated reasoning is that the fee recovers the cost of extra vetting and background checks. But USCIS runs on filing fees, not taxes, and going from roughly $6,345 for a large-company case with Premium Processing to six figures is a hard number to connect to vetting costs.
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It also skips over why companies sponsor at all.
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In my experience, employers hire a US worker whenever they can find one. It's cheaper and it's less work. Sponsoring someone has always been the expensive option. They do it when a role wasn't getting filled.
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Where it stands: the comment period closed on September 24. DHS now has to review and respond to those comments before it can publish a final rule, which usually takes months, and I'd expect litigation if it's finalized as written. Nothing is owed under it today.
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If you're an employer planning cap filings for March, build it into the budget as a contingency, not as a cost you owe yet. And if you're a student deciding where to study with the option of working afterward in mind, I understand why the US is a harder sell right now than it used to be.
