The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed a new rule that would add a $103,265 fee to every selected H-1B cap petition, including the master's cap. The rule was officially published in the Federal Register on August 25, 2026, and the public comment deadline is September 24, 2026.
This is a proposed rule. It is not in effect yet.
Everything below comes from the text of the rule, not from secondhand reporting. The document was issued jointly by USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) and DHS. It is RIN 1615-AD20, document number 2026-17324, docket number USCIS-2026-0298.
First, clearing up the most common confusion
Many claims online lump this rule together with the $100,000 fee from September 2025. The rule text states plainly that these are two separate charges.
In substance, the rule says the fee it proposes is a separate fee, independent of the $100,000 required under Presidential Proclamation 10973, and it rests on a different legal authority.
How the two differ:
| Proclamation 10973 (September 2025) | This proposed rule | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | $100,000 | $103,265 |
| Legal basis | Presidential authority to restrict entry (INA 212(f)) | Fee regulations (8 CFR 106) |
| Covers | New petitions for workers outside the US | All selected cap petitions |
| Status | The original proclamation's implementing guidance was vacated by a court; a new proclamation signed September 18 extends it one year, and USCIS hasn't said whether it will resume collecting | Proposed; not yet in effect |
Why the difference matters: the proclamation relies on the power to "restrict entry," so it only reaches people entering from abroad. A fee charged per cap petition reaches everyone selected in the lottery, including those already in the US changing status from F-1. Those are exactly the people the new rule would cover and the proclamation doesn't.
Where the $100,000 fee stands now
- September 19, 2025: Proclamation 10973 issued
- June 8, 2026: The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the proclamation in full
- July 24, 2026: The First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's request for a stay
- September 18, 2026: The newly signed Proclamation 11069 extends Proclamation 10973 by 12 months, effective September 21 and running until September 21, 2027. The new proclamation says nothing about the vacatur ruling. See this article for details
The rule text itself notes that the appeal of the vacatur order is still pending, and that if the order is later lifted, DHS will collect the fee under the terms of the proclamation.
The text also states one key point: if Proclamation 10973 is not extended, it will expire before this rule's fee takes effect. (The proclamation was valid through September 20, 2026.)
Update, September 22: The proclamation has now been extended; see the last item in the timeline above. So the scenario of "the proclamation expires first and the rule picks up after it" no longer holds. The two will overlap for a while.
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How the amount was calculated
The rule text gives the formula: total costs to be recovered of $8,777,488,035 ÷ an expected 85,000 fee-paying petitions = $103,264.57, rounded to the nearest $5 to $103,265.
DHS says the money would create a dedicated revenue stream for the operating costs of the immigration system as a whole.
Who pays and who doesn't
You'll be affected if you're going through the H-1B lottery, whether you're abroad or already in the US on F-1 or OPT waiting to change to H-1B. Petitions under the master's cap (20,000 numbers) pay it too. The fee is paid at filing and comes on top of all your existing fees.
You're not affected if your petition is not subject to the cap: petitions from employers such as universities, nonprofits affiliated with universities, and nonprofit research organizations, as well as extensions and changes of employer for people already in H-1B status. The rule text explicitly excludes cap-exempt petitions.
If you already have an H-1B, the extensions and employer changes you'll need are outside the scope of this rule.
Where things stand
The process is: White House review (completed August 19) → publication in the Federal Register (completed August 25) → 30-day public comment period → review of comments → final rule published → takes effect.
The Federal Register record states that the comment deadline is September 24, 2026. For now the rule is at the comment stage, and neither the content of the final rule nor its effective date has been decided.
A proposed rule may be adopted as is, adopted with changes, or quietly dropped. When you see claims like "they start charging $100,000 next month," first check whether they're talking about a proposed rule or a final rule. The gap between the two is several months and a full round of public comments.
If you're preparing for next year's lottery, what you can do now is keep an eye on the comment period, not rework your plans around this number.
We'll keep following this
The rule is RIN 1615-AD20, docket number USCIS-2026-0298. Both numbers stay the same for the life of the rule. We'll publish one article when the comment period ends on September 24 and another when the final rule comes out.
Update (2026-08-25): The rule was officially published in the Federal Register that day, and the comment deadline was set as September 24, 2026. The article has been updated accordingly, and the source link now points to the officially published version instead of the public inspection PDF.
Correction: An earlier version of this article mislabeled this rule as RIN 1615-AD00 (that is a different rule, "Reforming the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program," which deals with cap-exemption eligibility and employer scrutiny), and it did not explain the background of the $100,000 proclamation. The correct number is RIN 1615-AD20, and the full article has been rewritten based on the rule text.
Follow-up (2026-09-28): The comment period closed on September 24, with 11,706 comments posted publicly in the docket. For the remaining steps and what to make of the claim that "applications will drop to 30,000 next year," see this follow-up.