Is the H-1B $100,000 Fee Still in Effect? What Indian Tech Workers Need to Know Right Now

No, the $100,000 H-1B fee is not being collected right now — but it is also not dead, and that contradiction is exactly why so many Indian techies and their families are confused this week. The fee exists on paper through September 2027 after President Trump signed a fresh proclamation on September 18, 2026 extending it, yet a federal court order from June 2026 still blocks the US government from actually charging it. Two different pieces of paper, two opposite answers, and the Trump administration is now arguing it can enforce the fee anyway — a position immigration lawyers expect will trigger a fresh round of lawsuits within weeks.

How did we get here?

The $100,000 fee was first imposed by a presidential proclamation that took effect on September 21, 2025. It applies only to new H-1B petitions filed for workers who are outside the United States at the time — not to renewals, transfers, or people already working in the US on H-1B status. Legal challenges followed almost immediately, and the courts have since split. In December 2025, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. sided with the government in a case brought by the US Chamber of Commerce, finding the fee fell within the president's authority over who may enter the country. Then, on June 8, 2026, US District Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts reached the opposite conclusion in a separate case, State of California v. Mullin, ruling that the payment functions as a tax and that only Congress — not the president — can impose one.

The government appealed, and in late July 2026 the First Circuit Court of Appeals declined to let the fee take effect while that appeal plays out, keeping it blocked. That is where things stood until September 18, when Trump signed a new proclamation extending the fee through September 21, 2027, alongside an executive order directing agencies to scrutinise H-1B petitions more closely, including employers' recent layoff records. According to analysis from the law firm Mintz, the administration argues this fresh proclamation is a new legal act unaffected by the earlier court order — meaning USCIS could try to collect the fee again even though courts have twice declined to let it stand. For now, employers are not required to pay it.

A second, separate fee is also in the pipeline

Running alongside this court fight is a separate proposal. On August 25, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule — through ordinary federal rulemaking, not a proclamation — to add a $103,265 fee on every new H-1B cap-subject petition, including those using the advanced-degree exemption. Unlike the proclamation fee, this one would not apply to extensions, transfers, amended petitions, or petitions from cap-exempt employers such as universities and nonprofit research organisations. The comment period closed on September 24, 2026, and DHS must review those comments before issuing a final rule. Lawyers tracking the rule, including at the firm Wolfsdorf Rosenthal, say it is unlikely to take effect before the next registration window opens around March 2027, if it survives rulemaking and the litigation expected to follow.

India's technology lobby group Nasscom responded directly to the DHS proposal, urging Washington to weigh the programme's original purpose. "The H-1B visa programme has long served an important purpose in addressing short-term skill gaps in the U.S.," Nasscom said, adding that "a proposed increase in visa fees must therefore be viewed in the context of the programme's original purpose of enabling access to temporary skills where there is a shortage in the U.S." Nasscom also pointed out that Indian IT companies have invested more than $1.1 billion in strengthening the American STEM pipeline through partnerships with over 130 universities, reaching 2.9 million students.

The real damage may already be done

Regardless of how the courts and the rulemaking eventually settle, Indian IT firms have already pulled back sharply. Combined H-1B approvals for six major Indian IT companies — TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant — fell nearly 40 percent year-on-year, from 18,469 in FY25 to 11,041 in FY26, according to Moneycontrol data reported by People Matters. Infosys was the only one of the six to record a rise. The retreat reflects years of US firms pushing Indian IT companies toward local hiring, a trend the fee uncertainty has only accelerated.

The stakes for India are unusually high because no other country is as exposed to this programme. In FY2024, Indian nationals received 283,397 of the 399,395 approved H-1B petitions — about 71 percent of the total — according to USCIS data. China was a distant second at under 12 percent.

What it means for you

• Already on an H-1B, or filing an extension or transfer inside the US? Neither fee applies to you. Both target only new, cap-subject petitions for people outside the US.
• Waiting on a fresh H-1B filed from outside the US? You're in the legal grey zone: the fee is "in force" on paper but blocked by two court rulings. Don't pay it unless your employer's counsel confirms the picture has changed.
• Entering the FY2028 cap lottery next year? Track DHS's final rule on the $103,265 fee rather than assuming it's settled; it isn't law yet and wouldn't apply before registration around March 2027.
• Eyeing a university, hospital, or nonprofit research role? Cap-exempt employers are excluded from the proposed fee entirely, making them relatively safer while the cap-subject route stays uncertain.
• Job hunting at an Indian IT major? The approvals pullback already underway is a bigger near-term factor than either fee's unresolved legal fate.

The honest answer to "is the fee still in effect" is that it depends which document you read: Trump's proclamation says yes through September 2027, and two federal courts say it cannot be collected. Until the First Circuit rules on the merits or the Supreme Court weighs in, that contradiction is the actual state of play.

Sources: Mintz, BNN Bloomberg, SightsInPlus, Wolfsdorf Rosenthal, Onmanorama, People Matters, and VisaVerge, citing USCIS data.