Some important clarifications have come in over the new $100,000 H-1B visa fee that the US had announced yesterday which goes into effect on 21st September.
The $100,000 fee isn’t annual, but a one-time fee, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has said. She also said that the fee wouldn’t be applicable to current H-1B visa holders, and would only be enforced from the next cycle. She added that H-1B visa holders are free to travel outside the US as before, and don’t necessarily have to return before the new rules come into effect.
“To be clear: 1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. 2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation. 3.) This applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders. It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle,” Leavitt posted on X.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick had earlier said that the $100,00 fee would be charged annually. There had also been speculation that the fee would be applicable to current H-1B visa holders. This had prompted companies like Microsoft, Amazon and JP Morgan to advise employees on H-1B visas to not leave the US, and if they were already outside the country, to return to the US by 21st September.
It now turns out that this isn’t the case. The fee will be applied one-time, and won’t be applicable for current H-1B visa holders. This will come as some respite for hundreds of thousands of H-1B workers that are currently employed in the US, but the nature of these announcements — and the seemingly arbitrary nature of these decisions — could cause many of them to rethink their long-term prospects in the country.