On August 25, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a new fee of $103,265 for each cap-subject H-1B petition. This fee would be in addition to existing application costs and—for some employers—a separate $100,000 fee stemming from a 2025 presidential proclamation.
For Poles working in American tech companies and for Polish employers trying their luck in the H-1B lottery every year, this is the most costly proposal in years. If it takes effect in its current form, the government fee alone for a single H-1B petition could exceed the annual salary of many entry-level employees.
What Exactly DHS is Proposing
On August 25, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule titled “Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions” in the Federal Register (doc. 2026-17324, 91 FR 54817, RIN 1615-AD20, Docket USCIS-2026-0298). The proposed fee of $103,265 would apply to every cap-subject H-1B petition—both within the standard 65,000 quota and the additional 20,000 spots for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher. The fee would have to be paid at the time of filing, alongside all existing Form I-129 fees.
Cap-exempt petitions—meaning those filed by universities, non-profit research organizations, and government research institutions—remain exempt. According to the proposal, nothing changes for them.
This Fee is in Addition to—Not Replacing—Existing Fees
A key section of the document explicitly states that the new fee would apply in addition to all other fees, including the fee resulting from a separate presidential proclamation. This refers to the proclamation of September 19, 2025, which imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions for individuals located outside the United States at the time of filing—USCIS confirms on its website that this fee remains in effect despite ongoing legal challenges. DHS writes this outright: an employer subject to both fees will pay both, which for a single petition could mean over $200,000 in government fees alone.
Where This Amount Comes From and Where the Money Will Go
DHS estimates that, assuming 85,000 cap-subject petitions annually, the fee will generate approximately $8.8 billion per year. The funds are intended to cover the costs not only of USCIS itself (about $3 billion, including the reallocation of $1.2 billion from the premium processing account), but also of other agencies involved in the immigration system: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (approx. $1.05 billion for application verification and the SEVP program), Customs and Border Protection ($76.2 million for the biometric entry-exit system), the EOIR immigration courts within the Department of Justice (nearly $3 billion, including 8,400 new positions such as immigration judges), the Department of State ($484 million for application verification at consular posts), and the Department of Labor ($1.21 million, including for labor condition compliance audits).
The legal basis is Section 286(m) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to set fees at a level that ensures full recovery of the costs of administering the immigration system. DHS acknowledges that it is utilizing this authority on such a large scale for the first time to cover the costs of agencies outside of USCIS itself.
When and for Whom—Currently Just a Proposal
This is still a proposed rule, not current law. DHS is accepting public comments until September 24, 2026, and the effective date depends on when and in what form a final rule is issued. The agency itself acknowledges that some employers—including smaller companies—may abandon filing H-1B petitions if the fee goes into effect at the proposed amount.
To be clear: this is a different fee than the one we wrote about in August regarding the expansion of the 9-11 biometric fee for H-1B and L-1—that fee applies exclusively to status extensions for large “covered employers” and amounts to $4,000–$4,500. The new DHS proposal applies exclusively to new cap-subject petitions, regardless of the size of the company filing the application—meaning it hits an entirely different stage of the process, the same one where the H-1B visa lottery is decided every year.
For Polish employers planning to sponsor an employee via H-1B and for candidates hoping to win in the upcoming registration, this is a signal to closely monitor the further progress of this rule—preferably with legal consultation before making a decision to register for the next fiscal year.
This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Amounts and deadlines pertain to a proposed rule that may change before the publication of the final version—in individual cases, it is advisable to consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Polish immigration attorneys, who can be found in the Polish Pages directory, can help employers and employees put together a visa sponsorship plan.
