Trump begins accepting $100k visa payments

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The Trump administration officially started accepting $100,000 payments for H-1B visas.

On Sept. 19, President Trump issued a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on future H-1B visa holders. The H-1B visa is typically used by the technology industry to hire high-skilled foreign workers in the United States.

In an update on Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided guidance for H-1B employers to file new petitions in line with the president’s order. Any new H-1B application submitted on or after Sept. 21 must be accompanied by an additional $100,000 payment.

The fee will not apply to immigrants already on H-1B visas or their beneficiaries and to immigrants who are approved for an extension of stay, change of status or amendment under their visa application. This exception could apply to student visa holders who use the H-1B program for employment.

However, immigrants who are ineligible for change of status, amendment or extension of stay due to not being in the United States on an approved visa must pay the Trump administration’s proposed fee.

USCIS also provided access to a federal government payment portal for applicants to submit the $100,000 fee. Payments must be received before filing the visa petition because a receipt of payment is included with the application.

The proclamation’s fee also does not apply to petitions in the “extraordinarily rare circumstance” that the Department of Homeland Security Secretary deems a foreign worker essential to the national interest.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Trump administration last week over its proclamation implementing the fee.

“If implemented, that fee would inflict significant harm on American businesses, which would be forced to either dramatically increase their labor costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees for whom domestic replacements are not readily available,” the chamber said in its court filing.

A coalition of unions also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the proposed fee.

“Most fundamentally, the President has no authority to unilaterally impose fees, taxes or other mechanisms to generate revenue for the United States, nor to dictate how those funds are spent,” the lawsuit reads.

Despite several attempts to prevent the fee, the Trump administration appears to be moving forward with issuance of the $100,000 payment plan.

In July, USCIS announced it received enough petitions from employers to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 H-1B visas. The agency said it will continue to accept petitions to extend the amount of time an H-1B worker can stay in the United States or change employers. Some of these petitions could require an H-1B fee if filed on or after Sept. 21.