USCIS pauses $100,000 H-1B fee collection

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will pause the collection of $100,000 fees for H-1B petitions after the US First Circuit Court verdict on July 28, a relief to Indian visa holders.

In a statement on July 28, the agency said that while the Department of Homeland Security disagreed with the court’s order, it will comply with it even as it considers next steps. If this order is later lifted, DHS still plans to collect the payment, the agency said.

“This means that a company hiring an engineer from Bengaluru or Hyderabad through consular processing is back to the ordinary filing costs, roughly $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the employer and the case,” said Rajiv Khanna, a US-based immigration attorney.


The Trump administration had introduced a $100,000 fee for fresh H-1B petitions effective September 21, 2025. The hefty fee, and increased scrutiny on H-1B had resulted in a 38.5% decline in the H-1B registrations for FY27, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in May.

Multiple lawsuits were filed in the US courts against the fee. In his ruling on June 8, the US District Court Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the government’s charge of $100,000 as a tax requires a formal ruling under the Administrative Procedure Act, including public notice and comment. The Judge added that they did not have the authority, quashing the fee. This was upheld by the US First Circuit Court order on July 24.

While this offers reprieve, Khanna said that employers who already paid have no clear refund mechanism yet, even if they were fewer in number. In addition, the government may seek the Supreme Court to stay the order, he added.