The $4,000 H-1B Fee in 2026: Who Pays, and What Changed on September 9

A DHS final rule took effect September 9, 2026 and extended the $4,000 fee to extension petitions — including staying with your current employer. Separately, the $100,000 fee is not in effect, and the $103,265 one is only a proposal. Here is what is actually true, with sources.

What changed most recently: a DHS final rule effective September 9, 2026 expanded the $4,000 fee to extension of stay petitions at covered employers — including extensions where you stay with the same employer, which did not trigger the fee before.

Three different H-1B fee numbers are circulating right now, and they are in three completely different states: one is law and just got broader, one is blocked by a court, and one is only a proposal. Conflating them is what drives most of the panic. Here is each one, with its actual status.

At a glance

Fee	Status today	Who it touches
$4,000 (H-1B) $4,500 (L-1) 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee	In effect — and expanded to extensions on Sept 9, 2026	Only covered employers under the 50/50 rule
$100,000 Sept 2025 presidential proclamation	Not in effect — guidance vacated; stay denied July 24, 2026	Nobody is paying it right now
$103,265 DHS proposed rule	Proposal only — not law; public comments close Sept 24, 2026	Would hit cap-subject petitions if finalized

1. The $4,000 fee — real, and it just got broader

The 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee is $4,000 on an H-1B petition and $4,500 on an L-1. It is not charged to every H-1B employer. It applies only to a “covered employer”, defined by the 50/50 rule: an employer with 50 or more employees in the United States where more than 50% of those employees are in H-1B or L-1 status. If your employer is outside that definition, this fee does not apply to your petition at all.

The change that matters: under a DHS final rule published August 10, 2026 and effective September 9, 2026, covered employers must now pay the fee on extension of stay petitions as well — including an extension where you simply continue with the same employer. Previously it was tied to initial grants of status and changes of employer, so a straightforward same-employer extension did not trigger it.

Two limits worth knowing: amended petitions that do not request an extension remain exempt, and the fee is currently scheduled to sunset on September 30, 2027 unless Congress extends it.

2. The $100,000 fee — blocked, and narrower than the headlines ever said

The September 2025 presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 payment on certain new H-1B petitions is not currently in effect. A federal court vacated the agency guidance implementing it, and on July 24, 2026 the First Circuit denied the government’s motion to stay that order. USCIS’s own H-1B FAQ confirms the payment requirement is not currently in effect.

Even on its own terms, it never reached as far as the headlines implied. Per USCIS, it did not apply to:

any previously issued H-1B visa;
petitions submitted before 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2025;
renewals — it was framed as a one-time fee on a new petition.

One honest caveat: DHS has said it disagrees with the ruling and still intends to collect the payment if the court order is lifted. “Not in effect” is the current state, not a permanent guarantee.

3. The $103,265 fee — a proposal, not a law

DHS has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a $103,265 fee on H-1B cap-subject petitions, payable at filing. It was published August 25, 2026. It is not law, nobody is being charged it, and it only becomes real if DHS issues a final rule.

It is open for public comment until September 24, 2026, and had already drawn nearly 10,000 comments as of September 17, 2026. Anyone can file a comment on the Federal Register docket — that is the actual mechanism for input on this one, and it closes soon.

Who actually pays?

Government filing fees on an H-1B petition are legally the employer’s responsibility, not the employee’s. You should not be receiving a bill for the $4,000 fee.

The real downstream effect on workers is indirect but genuine: higher filing costs make some employers more selective about who they sponsor and how readily they file extensions. With the September 9 change, a covered employer now faces that cost on renewals too, not just new hires — which is a meaningfully different calculation for them than it was in August.

What to do with this

Find out whether your employer is a “covered employer.” The 50/50 test decides whether any of this touches your petition. Most employers are not covered.
If you have an extension coming up and your employer is covered, the $4,000 now applies where it may not have earlier this year. Worth raising with your immigration team before filing.
Separate “proposed” from “in effect” before reacting. Of the three numbers above, exactly one is currently being collected.
Check the primary source, not a forwarded message. USCIS’s H-1B FAQ and the Federal Register docket are both public and free.

Sources

Federal Register — 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee for H-1B and L-1 Visas (final rule, published Aug 10, 2026; effective Sept 9, 2026)
USCIS — H-1B FAQ (status of the $100,000 payment requirement)
Federal Register — Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions (proposed rule, $103,265; comments close Sept 24, 2026)

Verified against the sources above on September 17, 2026. Immigration rules change and litigation is ongoing — confirm the current status before you file or make a decision. This is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to an immigration attorney.

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