On Friday, September 19, 2025, the Trump Administration issued a proclamation, effective midnight September 20, 2025, banning the entry of all H-1B workers to the United States until a $100,000 fee is paid to the federal government. As drafted, the proclamation appeared to apply to all existing and prospective H-1B workers, prompting many panicked H-1B visa holders to attempt to return to the U.S. (or avoid travelling abroad) before Saturday’s midnight deadline.

On September 20, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection published (duplicate) memorandums, clarifying that the new fee only applies to “petitions that have not been filed yet” and not to “beneficiaries of petitions that were filed before the effective date of the proclamation, are the beneficiaries of currently approved petitions, or have validly issued H-1B non-immigrant visas.”

Despite the significance of the new policy announcement and potential impact of the new fee, essential details are still missing, and many unanswered questions remain. Specifically:

• The proclamation mentions that exemptions may apply to an individual, a company, or an industry if DHS determines that it is in the national interest of the U.S. and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the U.S., but no details have been provided. The new fee requirement is apparently already in effect for all new H-1B petitions filed after the September 21 deadline. Who qualifies for exemptions, and when will they be announced? Importantly, will non-profit or “cap-exempt” organizations, such as universities and teaching hospitals, or critical H-1B employees, such as doctors and researchers, be exempt?
• The (duplicate) memorandums state that the new fee does not apply to individual beneficiaries of H-1B petitions approved before September 21. Still, it is not clear whether that is true for petitions to renew or extend H-1B status filed after the September 21 deadline. Does the new fee only apply to new H-1B petitions filed after the deadline for individuals who have never held H-1B status before and only if outside the U.S. at the time of application, or does it apply to all petitions filed for all individuals after September 21?
• The proclamation and memorandums focus on potential H-1B workers who are currently outside the U.S. Are new H-1B petitions that include a request to change or extend the status of someone already in the U.S. (such as a recent college graduate in F-1 student status or medical resident in J-1 status) exempt from the new fee?
• Which agency is the fee paid to, and how is it paid? H-1B applications are already subject to significant filing fees. Since 1998, Congress has also imposed taxes on new H-1B applications, which are explicitly directed to training programs for U.S. workers under the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA). Who benefits from the significant $100,000 filing fee, and how will it be used?
• Will the new fee be applied on a per employer (one payment to cover all employees), per employee (one fee per employee paid once and not also with subsequent applications to renew or extend status), or on a per petition basis (fee paid with every new H-1B application filed after the September 21st deadline including multiple subsequent applications filed by the same employer for the same employee)?

While H-1B visa holders and their employers wait for further guidance from the Trump Administration, it appears for the moment that beneficiaries of H-1B petitions filed before September 21 and holders of current and valid H-1B visas may still travel to the U.S. without evidence that the new $100,000 fee has been paid. However, because the proclamation and memorandums focus primarily on individuals who are outside the U.S., employers might still want to instruct their current H-1B workers not to travel outside the U.S., and any existing H-1B workers who may be currently traveling outside the U.S. might want to consider returning to the U.S. as soon as feasible.

Finally, with the FY2027 H-1B lottery fast approaching, employers and their prospective H-1B employees should be aware that the H-1B program could change significantly in the coming months. In addition to the new $100,000 fee, the proclamation also directs the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland Security to promulgate regulations that could drastically change the H-1B program by significantly increasing the minimum prevailing wage that employers must pay and by restricting H-1B approvals to only certain “high-skilled and high-paid aliens.”

This article summarizes aspects of the law and does not constitute legal advice. For legal advice for your situation, you should contact an attorney.