The $100,000 H-1B fee has been struck down twice. Don’t plan a party yet.

The proclamation took effect on September 21, 2025, charging $100,000 for new H-1B petitions for workers outside the United States. A court in Washington, DC upheld it in December 2025.

On June 8, 2026, Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts vacated the fee in a case brought by 20 states. On July 24, the First Circuit refused to let the government keep collecting while it appealed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, the White House renewed the fee through a new proclamation. Twelve days later, Judge Haywood Gilliam struck that version down too, in Global Nurse Force v. Trump.

And it's still not over. DHS published a proposed rule in August for a $103,265 fee on new cap-subject H-1B workers. The September ruling doesn't directly touch that proposal. A fee created through formal rulemaking is a different legal animal from one created by proclamation, and it may be harder to challenge.

The renewed proclamation itself revealed that employers paid the original fee for only about 700 people. Think about that for a second. The H-1B program normally brings in tens of thousands of new workers a year. Seven hundred is what's left when the price tag is a luxury car.

That isn't a fee. That's a wall with a cashier's window.

And it wasn't only big tech standing at the wall. In the court record, a rural kidney practice described a nine-month search for a physician that produced ten applications and one qualified candidate. That candidate needed an H-1B. Unable to pay, the practice built a waitlist of roughly 100 new patients. When people say immigration policy "only affects Silicon Valley," this is the kind of story they're missing.

While the fee bounced between courtrooms, DHS quietly finished something more durable. The H-1B cap lottery is now weighted by wage level instead of being purely random. Registrations at higher prevailing-wage levels get more entries in the drawing.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that the fee plus the new weighting would raise the average pay of selected registrants by $7,551 to $18,799, with most of that effect coming from the weighting alone.

For hiring managers, the translation is simple. Entry-level H-1B hires just got much harder to win in the lottery, fee or no fee. If your plan was to bring in junior developers through H-1B at the bottom of the pay scale, that plan needs a rewrite.

Most companies don't hire through H-1B because they enjoy paperwork. They do it because certain skills are scarce, projects have deadlines and the right person happens to be abroad. None of those reasons went away when the rules changed.

What changed is risk. A hiring plan that depends on one visa pathway now depends on a court calendar, a rulemaking timeline and a lottery that favors higher salaries. That's three moving parts you don't control.

Budget two scenarios. One where the fee stays dead, one where the DHS rule revives it at $103,265. Scenario planning costs a spreadsheet. Being surprised costs a requisition.

Look at who is already in the country. F-1 students changing status to H-1B have been exempt from the $100,000 charge, though they still face the new lottery odds. Campus recruiting at engineering programs suddenly looks smarter.

Price roles honestly. Under wage weighting, an underpriced offer is now also a worse lottery ticket. Paying at the right level improves both your candidate's interest and their odds.

Build a domestic bench in parallel. Contract and contract-to-hire engineers can keep a roadmap moving while immigration timelines play out. Our IT staffing team keeps a pre-screened network for exactly this, and contract talent can start while you wait on USCIS.

Check the date on everything you read. Including this article. Status here is as of October 7, 2026, and this story changes monthly.

Contract professionals are not a consolation prize. For many projects, they're the better fit: a cloud migration, a security review or a system upgrade with a clear end date. You get experienced people quickly, without betting your timeline on a visa approval.

The smart setup for 2026 is a blend. Keep sponsoring the critical hires where it makes sense. Use contract talent to protect delivery dates. Convert the contractors who prove essential. That way a court ruling becomes a headline you read, not a crisis you manage.

Is the $100,000 H-1B fee still in effect?

As of October 7, 2026, a federal court has vacated the policies behind the renewed fee and blocked enforcement pending notice-and-comment rulemaking. A separate DHS proposed rule for a $103,265 fee is still pending.

Does the fee apply to F-1 students changing to H-1B?

Change-of-status cases for F-1 students have been exempt from the $100,000 charge, though they still go through the wage-weighted lottery.

What is the H-1B wage-weighted lottery?

It's a selection process that gives registrations at higher wage levels more entries, which improves the odds for higher-paid roles and lowers them for entry-level roles.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm current fee status with immigration counsel before filing.