usnews.comIf you already hold an H-1B, or you’re renewing one, or switching employers while still in H-1B status, the $100,000 fee was never built with you in mind. Say that first, because it’s the question drowning out every other detail on Blind and Reddit threads right now — people who’ve held valid H-1B status for years genuinely unsure whether they need to worry, largely because the policy’s rollout in September 2025 was chaotic enough to make that confusion reasonable.
Sanvi Overseas is writing this because almost everything published on this topic so far has been written for US employers and their immigration attorneys — accurate, but not aimed at the person actually living through the uncertainty. This is the version for you.
The Timeline, Including the Part Everyone Skips
On September 19, 2025, a presidential proclamation imposed a $100,000 payment requirement on H-1B petitions for beneficiaries located outside the United States, effective two days later. What happened next is worth remembering honestly rather than smoothing over: for roughly 24 hours, nobody outside the administration was entirely sure whether this applied to people who already held valid H-1B visas. Reports from that weekend describe H-1B holders abroad scrambling to get back into the US before the rule took effect, unsure whether re-entry itself might trigger the fee. The White House clarified within a day that the fee was aimed at new petitions only, not existing holders or renewals — but the initial panic was real, and it’s the honest starting point for anyone trying to understand why this topic still generates so much anxiety nine months later.
From there, the legal picture split in a way that most casual coverage doesn’t fully capture:
- Case one — the one dominating recent headlines: Twenty Democratic state attorneys general, led by California, sued in the District of Massachusetts, arguing the fee functioned as an unconstitutional tax that only Congress, not the President, has authority to impose. On June 8, 2026, Judge Leo Sorokin agreed, vacating the policy entirely. Four days later, in a genuinely unusual move, the same judge temporarily stayed his own ruling, allowing USCIS to resume collecting the fee while the government pursued an emergency appeal — meaning the fee was, briefly, back in force between mid-June and late July. The government formally asked the First Circuit Court of Appeals to keep that reinstatement in place during the full appeal. On July 24, 2026, the First Circuit refused, finding the administration hadn’t shown it was likely to win the underlying case. That refusal is what’s currently in effect: the vacatur stands, and USCIS is barred from collecting the fee, as of today.
- Case two — the one almost no mainstream coverage mentions: Separately, the US Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of business and research groups challenged the same fee in the District of Columbia, on different legal grounds (presidential foreign-commerce and immigration authority, rather than the tax argument). That court reached the opposite conclusion in late December 2025, upholding the fee as within the President’s broad immigration powers. The Chamber appealed, and the D.C. Circuit agreed to fast-track that case specifically because of the looming March 2026 H-1B lottery window, with oral arguments held in February 2026.
What this actually means: two different federal courts, considering the same fee, reached opposite conclusions on different legal theories. That’s precisely the kind of split between circuits that tends to draw Supreme Court attention — not a hypothetical possibility, but a realistic one given what’s already happened. The fee is not collectible right now, but describing this as “struck down” full stop would understate how contested the underlying question still is.
So Is the Fee In Effect Right Now?
As of today, no — USCIS cannot currently assess or collect the $100,000 fee on any H-1B petition, following the First Circuit’s July 24 refusal to reinstate it during the appeal. But treat this as the current operative reality, not a permanent resolution. The government’s appeal on the merits is still pending in the First Circuit, the D.C. Circuit case is still working through its own process, and either could shift again with little warning — this policy has already reversed twice in six weeks, once before.
One more concrete anchor point worth knowing regardless of how the litigation unfolds: the underlying proclamation carries a built-in 12-month expiry, around September 21, 2026, unless the administration extends it or replaces it with a formal regulation before then. That date matters independent of anything the courts decide.
Who Does This Actually Apply To?
Cutting through the confusion visible in real discussion threads, here’s the direct answer, structured around what’s actually been asked:
- If you already hold an H-1B and aren’t traveling internationally or changing anything about your status — this was never aimed at you, and nothing about the fee affects your current status.
- If you’re renewing or extending an existing H-1B — not covered by the fee, under every version of the guidance issued so far.
- If you’re changing employers while remaining in valid H-1B status — also not covered.
- If you’re changing status from within the US — most notably, F-1 students transitioning to H-1B without leaving the country — this is the pathway the fee was specifically designed not to touch, since it only applies to beneficiaries located outside the United States at the time of filing.
- If you’re a new applicant currently outside the US, and your petition requires consular processing — this is the group the fee actually targets, and it’s the group for whom the current legal back-and-forth matters most directly.
The Lottery Itself Changed Too — What It Actually Means for You
Alongside the fee dispute, USCIS made a separate, less contested change: replacing the historically random H-1B lottery with a wage-weighted selection system, effective February 27, 2026, applied for the first time in the FY2027 cap season. Registrants must now report which of the Department of Labor’s four wage tiers their offered salary falls into, and higher tiers receive proportionally more entries in the selection pool.
Translated plainly: under the old system, a fresh graduate earning an entry-level salary and a senior engineer earning double had identical odds of selection, because every registration was one equally-weighted entry. Under the new system, that senior engineer’s registration now carries more weight than the graduate’s. If you’re an early-career applicant, this is a genuine, structural change working against you relative to how the system used to function — not a minor technical adjustment, and worth factoring into how realistic your odds actually are before building a plan around this specific pathway.
The Numbers Are Genuinely Falling, and Not by a Little
H-1B registrations have declined for three consecutive cycles: roughly 479,953 for FY2025, down to about 358,737 for FY2026 (a 27% drop), and further down to approximately 211,600 for FY2027 — a decline of more than 55% across two years. USCIS confirmed on July 17, 2026, that the FY2027 cap of 85,000 (65,000 regular plus 20,000 for advanced-degree holders) was filled entirely from the initial March 2026 selection round, with no second lottery this year. If you weren’t selected in March, there’s no further FY2027 opportunity — the next chance is FY2028 registration, expected around March 2027.
Whether that decline reflects genuine deterred demand from the fee and the surrounding uncertainty, or other factors entirely, isn’t something any single source can state with certainty — but the scale of the drop is real and worth knowing regardless of the cause.
What This Means If You’re Actually Planning a US Strategy Right Now
The honest answer depends heavily on which pathway you’re pursuing, which is precisely why a blanket “H-1B is fine” or “H-1B is dead” take from either direction misses the point. If your route runs through F-1 to H-1B change of status, the fee dispute — regardless of how it resolves — has never been aimed at you directly, though the wage-weighted lottery change affects your odds either way. If your route depends on consular processing from outside the US, you’re in the group whose situation could genuinely change again before your own filing window arrives, and that’s worth planning around rather than assuming today’s status holds indefinitely.
Given that over 70% of all H-1B visas issued go to Indian nationals, this isn’t a peripheral concern for Indian applicants — it’s close to the center of the entire program’s population, which is exactly why India’s own Ministry of External Affairs issued a public statement studying the implications when the fee was first announced.
If This Makes You Reconsider the US Specifically
That’s a reasonable reaction to genuine, ongoing uncertainty, not an overreaction. If you’re weighing whether to keep building a US-specific strategy or look elsewhere, our USA Green Card guide covers the separate, longer-standing backlog reality for Indian applicants even once inside the H-1B system — worth reading alongside this piece rather than in isolation. And if the honest answer for your profile is that another country’s work visa route currently offers more certainty, that’s a legitimate comparison to make, not a concession.
How Sanvi Overseas Can Help
Whether the H-1B fee dispute affects your specific plan depends entirely on your pathway — F-1 conversion, consular processing, employer change, or a fresh application — and that’s exactly the kind of situation-specific judgment call worth making with someone tracking the actual current status, not a static article. As immigration and work visa consultants based in Ahmedabad, we can walk through where your specific situation stands against what’s true today.
Book a Free Consultation with Sanvi Overseas →
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the $100,000 fee apply to me if I already have an H-1B visa?
No. The fee was designed to apply only to new H-1B petitions for beneficiaries located outside the United States at the time of filing — existing valid H-1B holders were never its target, regardless of the initial confusion when it was first announced.
2. Is the fee currently being collected?
No, as of today. The First Circuit Court of Appeals refused on July 24, 2026 to let USCIS reinstate the fee while the government’s appeal proceeds, so the earlier vacatur is back in effect. This is a procedural outcome, not a final ruling on the underlying legal question.
3. Could this change again?
Yes, and it already has, twice, within about six weeks. The government’s appeal is still active, a separate case in the D.C. Circuit reached the opposite conclusion on different legal grounds, and the underlying question is genuinely unsettled enough that Supreme Court review is a realistic possibility, not just a remote one.
4. Does the fee apply to F-1 students changing status to H-1B?
No. The fee specifically targets beneficiaries outside the United States requiring consular processing — a change of status filed from within the US, the path most international students use, falls outside its scope.
5. How does the new wage-weighted lottery affect my chances?
If your offered salary falls into a lower Department of Labor wage tier, your registration now carries proportionally fewer entries in the selection pool than a higher-earning applicant’s, unlike the previous fully random system where every registration had equal weight. This is a genuine structural shift, particularly relevant for early-career applicants.
6. Can I still register for the FY2027 H-1B lottery?
No — USCIS confirmed on July 17, 2026 that the FY2027 cap was filled from the initial March 2026 selection round, with no second round. The next opportunity is FY2028 registration, expected around March 2027.
7. Does Sanvi Overseas guarantee my H-1B or work visa application will succeed?
No — and be cautious of anyone who claims a specific approval percentage or guarantee, since outcomes are decided solely by USCIS and, in this specific case, by ongoing litigation outside anyone’s control. What we can offer is an accurate, current read on how this situation affects your specific pathway.
How We Researched This
This piece is built from primary legal reporting on both active cases — Reuters‘ and the Epoch Times’ coverage of the July 24, 2026 First Circuit ruling, Jurist’s case summary, and law firm alerts (Ogletree Deakins, Klasko, CDF Labor Law) tracking each procedural turn in California v. Mullin — cross-referenced against real, unedited discussion threads on Blind to identify what applicants are actually confused about, rather than assuming which questions matter. Last verified: July 28, 2026. Given how quickly this has already shifted twice, treat any specific legal status here as time-sensitive — check with us for the current status before making a filing decision based on this article alone.
Key Takeaways
- The $100,000 fee is not currently being collected, following the First Circuit’s July 24, 2026 refusal to reinstate it during the government’s appeal — but this is a procedural win, not a final ruling
- It was never designed to apply to existing H-1B holders, renewals, employer changes for those already in status, or F-1-to-H-1B changes of status filed from within the US
- A separate case in the D.C. Circuit reached the opposite conclusion on different legal grounds, making this a genuine circuit split, not a settled question
- The lottery itself changed from fully random to wage-weighted, structurally disadvantaging lower-salary and early-career applicants relative to the old system
- H-1B registrations have fallen more than 55% over two cycles, and the FY2027 cap already closed on July 17, 2026 with no second round
Not sure how any of this affects your specific H-1B or work visa plan? Check Your Situation With Sanvi Overseas →