The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a new $103,265 fee for H-1B cap-subject petitions, a dramatic increase that could significantly change the economics of H-1B sponsorship for U.S. employers.
The proposal is especially important for international students. Unlike the $100,000 H-1B payment introduced through a presidential proclamation in 2025, the new regulation is written to apply to all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including petitions for workers already inside the United States. That could include employers sponsoring F-1 students moving from OPT or STEM OPT to H-1B status.
However, the $103,265 fee is not currently in effect. DHS has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, and the proposal must go through the federal regulatory process before it can become final.
Under the proposed rule, an employer filing an H-1B petition subject to the annual numerical cap would have to pay an additional $103,265 at the time of filing.
The fee would apply to:
The proposed fee would be charged in addition to existing H-1B filing fees and other applicable payments. DHS calculated the $103,265 amount based on approximately $8.78 billion in immigration-system costs divided across an assumed 85,000 fee-paying H-1B cases.
Importantly, the proposed regulation states that the fee would be paid by the H-1B petitioner — normally the sponsoring employer — rather than the H-1B beneficiary.
This distinction may be the most important part of the proposal for international students.
President Trump's September 2025 proclamation created a $100,000 payment connected to the entry of certain H-1B workers from outside the United States. Because that policy was based on presidential authority to restrict entry, students and other foreign nationals changing to H-1B status while already inside the United States were generally outside its scope.
The new DHS proposal takes a different approach.
Rather than focusing on entry into the United States, the proposed regulation applies the $103,265 fee to H-1B cap-subject petitions themselves. The text specifically says the charge would apply to all cap-subject petitions, including cases eligible for the U.S. advanced-degree exemption.
That means an employer sponsoring an F-1 student selected in the H-1B cap could potentially face the six-figure fee even when the student is already working in the United States on OPT or STEM OPT.
For international graduates, the practical concern is therefore not a new fee for maintaining F-1 status. Instead, it is whether employers will remain willing to sponsor workers for cap-subject H-1B status when the petition itself could carry an additional cost exceeding $100,000.
The proposal does not itself change CPT, OPT, STEM OPT, or F-1 employment authorization rules.
There is an important exception.
DHS says the proposed $103,265 charge would apply only to cap-subject H-1B petitions, not cap-exempt filings.
Cap-exempt H-1B employment can include qualifying positions with:
DHS specifically cited the role of educational institutions and nonprofit and governmental research organizations when explaining why cap-exempt petitions would not be charged the new fee.
This distinction could become increasingly important for international students comparing career paths between private-sector employers subject to the H-1B cap and qualifying cap-exempt employers.
The proposed fee should not be treated as a current H-1B requirement.
The notice is scheduled for formal publication in the Federal Register on August 25, 2026, followed by a 30-day public comment period. DHS can review those comments, change the proposal, withdraw it, or issue a final regulation.
Reuters reports that the administration could seek to finalize the rule before the end of 2026.
Legal challenges are also likely to remain a major issue. A federal judge blocked the administration's earlier $100,000 H-1B payment in June 2026, and the government appealed that ruling. The new proposed regulation relies on a different claimed legal authority: DHS's authority under immigration law to establish fees intended to recover immigration-administration costs.
For now, F-1 students, OPT and STEM OPT workers, and employers should distinguish between the existing H-1B rules and this proposed future fee. If DHS finalizes the regulation substantially as written, however, it could make the F-1-to-H-1B transition considerably more expensive for employers filing cap-subject petitions.