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H-1B fees in 2026: every charge an employer pays, with the rule behind each one

For a new cap-subject H-1B, the fee schedule as at 10 October 2026 has a $215 registration fee, a $780 petition fee ($460 for a small employer or nonprofit), a $600 Asylum Program Fee ($300 or none for the same groups), a $1,500 ACWIA fee ($750 for 25 or fewer employees), a $500 fraud fee, and for some employers a $4,000 9-11 fee, plus optional premium processing at $2,965. The $100,000 payment and a PROPOSED $103,265 fee are separate items, covered on their own pages.

H-1B fees come from four different places: the USCIS fee regulation (8 CFR 106.2), federal statutes that set fixed amounts (the ACWIA fee and the fraud fee), a rule on a fee collected for Customs and Border Protection (the 9-11 fee), and, since September 2025, a presidential proclamation. A list that mixes these without saying which is which is hard to check and goes out of date quickly. Fee changes in 2026 have been frequent: the 9-11 fee was extended to extension petitions on 9 September 2026, a $100,000 payment has been added, suspended in part by a court and extended, and DHS has proposed a further $103,265 cap fee.

This guide lists every charge that applies to an H-1B registration or petition as at 10 October 2026, one by one, with the rule behind it, who it applies to, who is exempt and what the rules say about who may pay. It then adds up two worked examples as arithmetic, not as a quote for any filing. It reports rules; it does not tell any employer how to file. USCIS rejects a filing with the wrong fee. USCIS's own fee page puts it this way: "If the fee is incorrect, your application, petition, or request will be rejected." The USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) is the page to check on the day of filing, and it is updated more often than any guide.

Step one: the registration fee

A cap-subject employer must register each prospective beneficiary before any petition can be filed (see our page on the H-1B weighted lottery). 8 CFR 106.2(c)(11) sets the fee: "For each registration submitted to register for the H-1B cap or advanced degree exemption selection process: $215. This fee is not subject to the online discount provided in § 106.1(g)."

Two points from USCIS's registration page: the fee is "non-refundable", and a duplicate registration that is deleted is not refunded either. The fee is paid per registration, so an employer that registers several people pays $215 for each, whether or not a registration is selected.

On the petition: the base filing fee

After selection, the employer files Form I-129. The base fee is in 8 CFR 106.2(a)(3)(i): "Petition for H-1B Nonimmigrant Worker or H-1B1 Free Trade Nonimmigrant Worker: $780. For small employers and nonprofits: $460."

The definitions are in 8 CFR 106.1(f):

  • A small employer is "a firm or individual that has 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees in the United States, including any affiliates and subsidiaries."
  • A nonprofit means not-for-profit primary or secondary educational institutions or institutions of higher education, organisations tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), or governmental research organisations as defined in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(C).

Online filing. 8 CFR 106.1(g) says: "Unless otherwise provided in this part, the fee for forms filed online with USCIS, using the electronic system prescribed by USCIS, will be an amount that is $50 lower than the fee prescribed in § 106.2." The reduced small-employer and nonprofit rate is excepted: 106.2(a)(3)(xi) says the online discount "does not apply" to it. The discount also does not apply to the registration fee, the Asylum Program Fee or premium processing, each of which says so in its own paragraph. Whether an H-1B petition must be filed online is a question for the current form instructions: a mandatory e-filing interim final rule (91 FR 51924) took effect on 11 August 2026, and USCIS's form pages say which forms it covers.

The Asylum Program Fee

8 CFR 106.2(c)(13), the Asylum Program Fee, applies in addition to the petition fee. It must be paid by "any petitioner filing a Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, Form I-129 under 8 CFR 214.2" (and certain other petitions, including Form I-140). The amount is $600. The paragraph then says that for petitions "filed by a nonprofit as defined in § 106.1(f)" there is "No fee", for petitions "filed by a small employer as defined in § 106.1(f)" the fee is $300, and that "The online filing discount provided in § 106.1(g) does not apply to this fee."

The ACWIA fee and the fraud prevention and detection fee

Two charges are set by statute (8 U.S.C. 1184(c)) and listed in the fee regulation (8 CFR 106.2(c)(4) and (5)).

ACWIA fee. The American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act fee is $1,500 per petition. The statute says it "shall be $1,500 for each such petition except that the fee shall be half the amount for each such petition by any employer with not more than 25 full-time equivalent employees who are employed in the United States (determined by including any affiliate or subsidiary of such employer)." So the amounts are $1,500 or $750.

Under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(i) it is owed on a petition filed for an initial grant of H-1B status, an initial extension of stay, or authorization for a change in employers. It is not required on an amended petition with no extension request, on a petition filed only to correct a USCIS error, or on "the second or subsequent request for an extension of stay filed by the employer" (214.2(h)(19)(v)).

Exempt employers. An institution of higher education, a nonprofit entity related to or affiliated with one, a nonprofit research organisation or governmental research organisation, a primary or secondary school, and a nonprofit that runs established curriculum-related clinical training of students are exempt (214.2(h)(19)(iii) and the statute). An employer claiming an exemption must file the form prescribed by USCIS with supporting evidence (214.2(h)(19)(vi)). USCIS "will accept payment of the ACWIA fee only from the United States employer or its representative of record".

Fraud prevention and detection fee. The statute, 8 U.S.C. 1184(c)(12), says the fee applies to an employer filing a petition "initially to grant an alien nonimmigrant status described in subparagraph (H)(i)(b) or (L)" or "to obtain authorization for an alien having such status to change employers". The amount is "$500" for the principal worker. The fee schedule lists it as "For filing certain H-1B and L petitions as described in 8 U.S.C. 1184(c): $500."

Note the different triggers. The ACWIA fee can apply to an initial extension; the fraud fee is tied to an initial grant or a change of employer.

The 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee

This fee applies only to large employers that rely heavily on H-1B and L workers. 8 CFR 106.2(c)(8): "For all petitioners filing an H-1B petition who employ 50 or more employees in the United States, if more than 50 percent of the petitioner's employees in the aggregate are in H-1B, L-1A, or L-1B nonimmigrant status: $4,000." The L-1 equivalent is $4,500.

Two sentences matter for planning. First: "Petitioners filing an amended petition that do not seek an extension of the alien's currently authorized H-1B status are exempt from this fee." Second: "This fee will apply to petitions filed on or before September 30, 2027."

Change from 9 September 2026. A final rule (91 FR 51360, effective 9 September 2026) changed how the fee applies to extensions. Its summary says the changes "require that covered employers submit the 9-11 Biometric Fee for all extension of status petitions, regardless of whether the related fraud prevention and detection fee applies, which includes extension of status petitions that do not involve a change of employer." The fee "continues to apply unchanged to petitions seeking an initial grant of status." The rule's summary describes the change as a correction of DHS's earlier interpretation of the statute. Whether an employer is "covered" depends on headcount and the share of staff in the listed statuses, a count that is the employer's to make with its lawyer.

Premium processing (optional)

Premium processing is a paid option. The fee for an H-1B petition is $2,965 (8 CFR 106.4(c)(2)), and the processing timeframe is 15 business days (106.4(e)(2)). The regulation says the fee "may not be waived and must be paid in addition to other filing fees", and that if USCIS issues a request for evidence or a notice of intent to deny, the timeframe stops and a new one starts when USCIS receives the response (106.4(f)(3)). The amount was adjusted effective 1 March 2026; see our page on premium processing fees. Premium processing is not discounted for online filing.

Payments outside the fee schedule: the $100,000 payment and the PROPOSED $103,265 fee

Two items are not in 8 CFR 106.2 as in force on 10 October 2026.

  • The $100,000 payment. This comes from Proclamation 10973, extended by Proclamation 11069. USCIS's fee page carries an alert that a federal court vacated the agency guidance implementing the payment on 8 June 2026, that DHS is complying for now and that DHS "still plans to collect the payment" if the order is lifted. Our page on the $100,000 H-1B payment sets out the documents.
  • The PROPOSED $103,265 fee. DHS proposed this on 25 August 2026 (91 FR 54817) for cap-subject petitions. Comments closed on 24 September 2026, and it is not in force. If it became final it would be "in addition to all other applicable fees or payments". See our page on the proposed $103,265 H-1B cap fee.

The October 2026 inflation adjustment of H.R. 1 fees (91 FR 62540, effective 16 October 2026) does not name H-1B petitions.

Putting the numbers together: two worked examples

These are arithmetic from the figures above, not quotes for any filing. They leave out attorney fees, the $100,000 payment (whatever its status on the day), the proposed $103,265 fee, the $50 online discount and any other charge the form instructions require.

Large employer, new cap-subject petition, paper filing, no 9-11 fee, no premium:

  • Registration: $215
  • Petition: $780
  • Asylum Program Fee: $600
  • ACWIA fee: $1,500
  • Fraud fee: $500
  • Total: $3,595

Add premium processing at $2,965 and the total is $6,560. Add the $4,000 9-11 fee for an employer that is covered by it and the total is $10,560 with premium, or $7,595 without.

Small employer (25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees), same filing:

  • Registration: $215
  • Petition: $460
  • Asylum Program Fee: $300
  • ACWIA fee: $750
  • Fraud fee: $500
  • Total: $2,225, or $5,190 with premium processing.

A nonprofit as defined in 8 CFR 106.1(f) pays the $460 petition fee and no Asylum Program Fee. Whether the ACWIA fee also applies depends on the separate exemption list in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(iii), which is defined differently. A cap-exempt employer, such as a university, files no registration and so pays no $215 registration fee. Whether an employer is exempt from a charge is a legal determination.

Who may pay: what the rules say about recovering costs from the worker

These fees are the employer's. Several rules limit passing costs to the worker, and they are the Labor Department's, not USCIS's.

  • Business expenses. 20 CFR 655.731(c)(9)(iii)(C) says one category of authorised deduction from the required wage must not be "a recoupment of the employer's business expense", and lists as an example "attorney fees and other costs connected to the performance of H-1B program functions which are required to be performed by the employer (e.g., preparation and filing of LCA and H-1B petition)."
  • The additional filing fee. 20 CFR 655.731(c)(10)(ii) says the employer "may not receive, and the H-1B nonimmigrant may not pay, any part of the" additional filing fee, "whether directly or indirectly, voluntarily or involuntarily." The paragraph still carries the old $500 and $1,000 amounts from earlier law, so which of today's separate charges it reaches is a question for a lawyer who reads the full text.
  • Who pays the ACWIA fee at filing. 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(ii) says USCIS "will accept payment of the ACWIA fee only from the United States employer or its representative of record".

For the registration and petition fees, and for the $100,000 payment, the documents on this page do not say whether and how an employer may recover any part of them. That depends on the wage rules above and on the facts, and a worker who is asked to contribute to a fee should take the question to an attorney or an accredited representative.

Where fee mistakes happen, from the rules

  • Using a fee from last year. Several amounts changed in 2026 (the premium fee on 1 March, the 9-11 fee's scope on 9 September, and other USCIS fees on 16 October and 30 November). Our page on USCIS fee changes in October and November 2026 lists what moves when.
  • Applying the online discount where it does not apply, such as the small-employer rate, the Asylum Program Fee, the registration fee or premium processing.
  • Treating the ACWIA fee as owed on every petition. It is not owed on a second or later extension filed by the same employer, or on an amendment with no extension request.
  • Assuming the fraud fee applies to extensions. It is tied to an initial grant or a change of employer.
  • Missing the 9-11 fee because the extension did not involve a change of employer. The 9 September 2026 rule changed that.
  • Omitting the H-1B Data Collection and Filing Fee Exemption Supplement, which USCIS's cap-season page lists among the parts of Form I-129 to complete.

An H-1B petition is the employer's legal filing. Only the people listed in 8 CFR 292.1 may represent the employer before USCIS.

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Questions people ask

How much does it cost to file an H-1B petition in 2026?

The base I-129 fee is $780 ($460 for a small employer or nonprofit). Add the Asylum Program Fee ($600, $300 or none), the ACWIA fee ($1,500 or $750, where it applies) and the $500 fraud fee, plus the $215 registration fee paid earlier. A covered employer also pays the $4,000 9-11 fee, and premium processing is an optional $2,965. Check Form G-1055 on the filing date.

What is the ACWIA fee?

A statutory fee on certain H-1B petitions: $1,500, or $750 for an employer with not more than 25 full-time equivalent employees. It applies to an initial grant, an initial extension and a change of employers, with exemptions for higher education, certain nonprofits and research organisations (8 U.S.C. 1184(c)(9); 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)).

Does the 9-11 fee apply to H-1B extensions?

Since 9 September 2026, a covered employer (50 or more employees in the United States with more than 50 percent in H-1B, L-1A or L-1B status) pays the $4,000 fee on all extension petitions, not only those with a new employer. An amended petition that does not seek an extension is exempt. The fee applies to petitions filed on or before 30 September 2027.

Can an employer make the H-1B worker pay the fees?

The Labor Department's rules restrict recouping the employer's business expenses from the required wage and bar the worker from paying any part of the additional filing fee (20 CFR 655.731(c)(9)(iii)(C) and (c)(10)(ii)). How they apply to each current fee is a legal question; an attorney should read the full text for the facts.

Is the $100,000 payment a normal H-1B fee?

No. It comes from a presidential proclamation, not from 8 CFR 106.2. USCIS says a federal court vacated the agency guidance on 8 June 2026 and that DHS is complying while it considers next steps. See the page on the $100,000 H-1B payment.

Does the online filing discount apply to H-1B fees?

8 CFR 106.1(g) takes $50 off fees for forms filed online unless the regulation says otherwise. It does not apply to the registration fee, the Asylum Program Fee, premium processing or the small-employer and nonprofit rate for the petition.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-10.

Related guides

  • The $100,000 H-1B payment: what the proclamations say, and what USCIS says about the court order — Proclamation 10973 (September 2025) restricts entry of H-1B workers unless a $100,000 payment accompanies the petition, and Proclamation 11069 (September 2026) extends it for 12 more months. USCIS's fee page says that on 8 June 2026 a federal court vacated the agency guidance implementing the payment, that DHS is complying while it considers next steps, and that DHS still plans to collect the payment if the order is lifted. This page reports those documents as at 10 October 2026 and does not say how any individual petition is treated.
  • The proposed $103,265 H-1B cap fee: what DHS proposed, who would pay it, and where the rulemaking stands — PROPOSED, not in force: on 25 August 2026 DHS proposed a $103,265 fee, payable at filing, on every H-1B cap-subject petition (including advanced-degree-exemption petitions), on top of all other fees and any proclamation payment. The comment period closed on 24 September 2026. As at 10 October 2026 no final rule has been published, so the current fees in 8 CFR 106.2 still apply.
  • The H-1B weighted lottery: how wage level sets the number of entries, and the rules that tie the registration to the petition — Since the fiscal year 2027 cap season, when USCIS has more H-1B registrations than it needs it enters each beneficiary in the draw once, twice, three or four times depending on the OEWS wage level (I to IV) that the offered wage equals or exceeds (8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(A)(4)). The registration must be accurate, the later petition must match it, and the fee is $215 per registration. This page explains the rule; it does not predict anyone's chances.
  • USCIS premium processing fees from 1 March 2026 — Since 1 March 2026 the premium processing fee on Form I-907 is $1,780, $2,075 or $2,965 depending on the category (8 CFR 106.4(c)). USCIS must act within 15, 30 or 45 business days or refund the fee, except where it opens a fraud investigation. The fee cannot be waived and must be paid in addition to the filing fee.
  • USCIS fees, October 2026: every main form — As at 9 October 2026 the paper fee is $675 for the I-130, $1,440 for an adult I-485, $520 for a standard I-765, $750 for the I-751 and $760 for the N-400. Four fees rise on 16 October 2026, EB-5 fees change on 30 November 2026, and several changes are only proposed.
  • H-1B request for evidence: what the regulations say about specialty occupation, wages, worksites and the response deadline — An H-1B RFE gives at most twelve weeks to respond and no extensions (8 CFR 103.2(b)(8)(iv)). The regulations behind the usual questions are the specialty occupation definition and four criteria in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4), the bona fide position and third-party rules, and the required-wage rule in 20 CFR 655.731. This page sets them out without telling anyone how to respond.
  • Filing online with USCIS: the $50 discount, mandatory e-filing and payment rules — Under 8 CFR 106.1(g), forms filed online cost $50 less than the 106.2 fee unless the regulation says otherwise. Since 11 August 2026 USCIS may require a form to be e-filed once it has been available online for 180 days and USCIS has given 60 days' notice. Fees must come from a US bank in US currency.
  • USCIS and immigration court fee changes, October–November 2026: what moves when — Fees change on three dates this autumn: EOIR court fees on 1 October 2026 (appeal to the BIA $1,060), four USCIS H.R. 1 fees on 16 October 2026 (annual asylum fee $105, parole fee $1,050, initial asylum/parole/TPS work permit $570, TPS $520) and EB-5 fees on 30 November 2026. The N-400, I-130, I-485 and I-751 fees are not among them. Several higher fees are only PROPOSED.