The H-1B Visa Is Officially Dead - What Now?

The H-1B visa is officially dead. The reality is that the H-1B visa has been dying for a long time, and the rise of hiring offshore talent has played a part in that — and now the H-1B visa is effectively dead. In late September 2025, Trump and his administration officially announced that new H-1B petitions filed for workers outside the United States will now require the petitioning business to pay a $100,000 fee – in effect, killing the program.

Nominally, the H-1B visa exists to fill gaps in the American labor force. If American businesses are unable to find the skills or expertise they need with domestic workers, then they can seek them outside the country.

The H-1B visa might seem like a good thing for the economy. American businesses get high-skilled employees who can help improve the country and the economy. The truth of the H-1B visa is, as always, much more nuanced than that. 

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What is the H-1B Visa?

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows American employers to bring foreign workers to the United States who can fill specialty occupations. The H-1B visa is especially sought after by those in tech and STEM fields.

A total of 85,000 H-1B visas are issued each year, though there are usually hundreds of thousands of applicants annually. A lottery system has been put in place to randomly select those who may actually apply for a visa. Starting with the FY 2027 cap season in March 2026, that lottery is no longer purely random. Registrations are now weighted by wage level, so higher-paid roles get better odds. More on that below.

Prospective employers must initiate the process by first sponsoring their employee’s electronic registration. From there, the lottery is conducted. If the submission is selected, the business can then file a full petition for an H-1B visa.

Following the business’s submission of the petition for the visa, the petition is adjudicated, at which point it may or may not be rejected. Reasons for rejection could include anything from the job not qualifying as a specialty occupation to the employee not having the proper qualifications.

Assuming the petition is accepted, the prospective hire must now apply for the visa itself, which may still be rejected for any number of reasons.

At its core, the H-1B visa process is long, winding, uncertain, and expensive.

Each and every step of the H-1B visa process requires more time and more money on the part of the business. Paying for man-hours is just the start – filing for an H-1B visa almost always requires an immigration attorney to get involved, and each step of the filing process requires more fees and more paperwork.

Even if a business makes it through all the steps, it must follow strict regulations once its employee arrives in the United States. Records must be strictly kept, and any major change in job duties or work location means amending the petition. Failure to comply at any step could mean massive fines or exclusion from using the H-1B program in the future.

One of the fundamental flaws with the H-1B visa itself, though, is that it only lasts three years. Businesses can seek an extension that pushes the limit to six years, but that requires even more paperwork, time, money, and effort, and is by no means a guarantee.

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How Did the H-1B Visa Die?

Trump killed the H-1B visa when his administration officially announced that new H-1B petitions for workers outside the United States would require a $100,000 fee to accompany the petition.

As has already been discussed in this document, the petition for a visa may be rejected for any number of reasons, as can the application for the actual visa itself. Trump’s new requirements mean that even if the petition or the visa is rejected, the fee itself will not be refunded.

Few businesses are able or willing to bear the burden of Trump’s new fee. Even when spread over the three years a worker can remain in the country, the new fee adds $30,000+ to the expenses associated with an employee. Adding three years might reduce that yearly burden, but that could easily fall apart.

The most basic justification for paying Trump’s new fee is that the employee is worth an extra $100,000, broken up over three to six years, of course, but that’s still a lot of money.

To justify that extra $100,000, the employee must have a set of skills, experience, expertise, or something else going for them that could help a business. Whatever the justification, the cocktail of qualities this employee brings to the table must be very rare and very potent.

Another possibility is that the employee must be willing to shoulder the burden of the extra expense themselves – but that’s a tricky topic. Rules and regulations around salaries are very strict when it comes to H-1B visa holders, and lowering an employee’s salary to make up for Trump’s new fee likely won’t end well. While the employee might be willing to take that burden, the federal government might not allow it.

Even if the employee is worth an extra $100,000, that much money could turn to nothing. Even after the lottery, the H-1B visa process isn’t a sure thing – it’s a gamble. The process could fall apart at any step along the way, and few businesses are willing to place a $100,000 bet on something so uncertain.

Simply put, the extra $100,000 fee Trump has put on the H-1B visa is, in most cases, insurmountable. Very few businesses are willing to pay that much money for an employee, especially if even successfully hiring them is a gamble. Trump has, in effect, killed the H-1B visa.

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Is the H1B Visa Actually Dead?

No. Not legally. The H-1B program is still on the books, and employers still file petitions. Congress created the program, and only Congress can abolish it. A presidential proclamation can make it harder and more expensive to use. It can’t erase it.

But “dead” isn’t really a legal question. It’s a business one. For most companies, the H-1B has stopped working as a reliable way to hire and scale. That’s what people mean when they say the H-1B is dead.

Here’s where things stand as of October 2026:

• The $100,000 payment is blocked for now. In June 2026, a federal court in Massachusetts struck down the policy. In July, the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause that ruling while the government appeals. On September 30, 2026, a federal court in California also blocked the agency rules used to collect the fee. Employers are not currently required to pay it.
• The fee isn’t gone. In September 2026, the President extended the $100,000 proclamation through September 21, 2027. The government is appealing both court rulings. A higher court could bring the fee back.
• A second six-figure fee is on the table. In August 2026, USCIS proposed a separate $103,265 fee on every cap-subject H-1B petition. It would apply on top of the $100,000 payment if both ever took effect. It’s still a proposal.
• Fewer employers are even trying. USCIS received roughly 211,600 registrations for the FY 2027 cap, down 38.5% from 343,981 the year before, based on preliminary figures.

So the program is alive. It just isn’t something most companies can build a hiring plan around. It’s hard to budget for a cost that could be $0 one month and $100,000 the next, depending on the latest court ruling. Add a lottery that leaves many applicants empty-handed, and the H-1B is too uncertain to count on for growth.

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The True Cost of Sponsorship: The "$100k H1B Fee"

The $100,000 figure gets all the attention. But it was never the whole bill. Even without it, sponsoring a new H-1B worker comes with a stack of fees, legal costs, and wage requirements that add up fast.

Here’s what an employer typically pays to sponsor one new cap-subject H-1B worker, before salary:

For a larger employer, the standard government fees alone come to about $3,595 per petition. Add premium processing and it’s $6,560. Then add attorney fees.

If the $100,000 payment applies, one hire costs more than $106,000 in fees before the worker earns a dollar. If the proposed $103,265 fee were finalized and both applied, a single cap-subject petition for a worker abroad could top $200,000 in fees alone.

And that’s just the explicit costs. Here are the ones that don’t show up on a fee schedule:

• RFE responses. A Request for Evidence (RFE) means USCIS wants more proof before it decides. Answering one takes more attorney time, more documents, and more waiting.
• Wage floors. H-1B workers must be paid at least the prevailing wage for the role and location. In March 2026, the Department of Labor proposed raising those floors sharply. The entry-level wage would jump from the 17th to the 34th percentile of local pay, and the top level from the 67th to the 88th. It’s still a proposal, but the direction is clear.
• Lottery losses. Registration fees and legal prep are spent whether or not your worker is selected. Historically, most registrations haven’t been.
• Compliance. Labor Condition Applications, public access files, and petition amendments for job or location changes all take time and money. Mistakes can lead to fines or a ban from the program.
• Time. Cap registration happens in March. The earliest start date is October 1. That’s six months or more without the hire you need, even if everything goes right.

Put it all together and the true cost of an H-1B hire is far higher than the filing fees suggest. For startups and small businesses, it’s often out of reach.

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What Happens to the Economy Without The H-1B Visa?

The Economics of the H-1B visa itself are rather nuanced and debated amongst economists. There are two fundamental pieces at play when it comes to the H-1B visa – the macroeconomic effects, and the microeconomic effects – and they don’t always get along.

Macroeconomics, simply put, focuses on the economy as a whole. Microeconomics studies how individuals and businesses interact with each other. A core tension in economics is that what has a positive effect on microeconomics might have a different, and possibly negative, effect on the macroeconomic landscape. While any policy put in place, including Trump’s new H-1B visa fee, will have both a macroeconomic and a microeconomic effect, the effect isn’t always uniform.

The H-1B visa creates a core tension between our understanding of macroeconomics and microeconomics, and that’s where the nuance lies.

The consensus is that from a macroeconomic perspective, the more the merrier. The more workers a country has, the better. More workers mean more people making money, more people creating businesses, more people buying things, and more people paying taxes. These are precisely what drives economic growth within a country, and this is where the H-1B visa shines.

By bringing in more workers, the H-1B visa can help drive up economic growth in the United States, but it’s not a free lunch. The H-1B visa does carry its downsides.

From a microeconomic perspective, the H-1B visa could be a negative. H-1B visas bring more workers into the country, especially white-collar workers. A greater supply of workers means a potential decline in wages for preexisting American workers or a possible reduction in job opportunities.

Without the H-1B visa, American workers might also be able to gain more bargaining power. With fewer competitors, many of whom might demand less from their employers, American workers could more easily demand better benefits or a better salary.

Within the H-1B visa lies a core tension – the H-1B visa could help the American economy, but hurt the American worker.

From a macroeconomic perspective, Trump’s decision to kill the H-1B visa is illogical. He’s reducing the American labor pool and cutting away at the American economy. From a microeconomic perspective, what Trump is doing is brilliant. Trump is helping raise the wages of American workers, potentially improving their benefits, and expanding their job opportunities.

Will the microeconomic effects of the death of the H-1B visa win out over the macroeconomic effects? Time will tell. Some research has shown that the H-1B visa is a net positive for the American worker, while others have shown that it does increase competition and reduce wages.

Right now, we simply don’t know what effect Trump’s H-1B visa fee will have. What we do know is that, for now, no business should be counting on the H-1B visa as a way to get more employees.

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The Future of the H1B Visa in the US

Nobody can say exactly where the H-1B goes from here. But the trend lines all point the same way: fewer visas for lower-paid roles, higher costs, and more scrutiny. Here’s what to watch.

• Pay over chance. The H-1B lottery is no longer purely random. Under a Department of Homeland Security rule that took effect February 27, 2026, registrations are weighted by wage level. A Level IV (highest) wage gets four entries. Level III gets three, Level II gets two, and Level I gets one. FY 2027 was the first cap season under this system. This is the change behind headlines saying the U.S. has abandoned the H-1B lottery for skills and pay. To be precise, the lottery still exists. It now rewards higher salaries, not skills directly.
• Higher wage minimums. The Department of Labor’s March 2026 proposal would raise prevailing wage levels across the board. If it’s finalized, sponsoring entry-level and mid-level talent will cost much more.
• More fees, more court fights. The $100,000 payment is tied up in appeals, and federal courts have reached different conclusions about it. A judge in Washington, D.C., upheld it in December 2025, while courts in Massachusetts and California later blocked it. Splits like this often end up at the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the proposed $103,265 cap petition fee is still moving through rulemaking.
• Tighter enforcement. A September 2026 executive order told federal agencies to weigh an employer’s layoffs when reviewing H-1B petitions. It also gave the Department of Labor 30 days to review previously filed Labor Condition Applications and decide whether to act against sponsoring employers.
• Fewer applicants. The 38.5% drop in FY 2027 registrations shows employers are already pulling back.

The likely result is a smaller, pricier H-1B program built for top-paid specialists at companies that can absorb the cost and the risk. Most growing teams won’t fit that profile.

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Why Do Companies Hire H1B Workers?

Simple. They can’t find enough people with the right skills at home, especially in tech.

In fiscal year 2023, 65% of approved H-1B workers held computer-related jobs. That share has been 60% or higher every year since 2012. The demand behind it isn’t slowing down. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects jobs for software developers, QA analysts, and testers will grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average, with about 106,100 openings a year.

Many of these hires start as international students. The F-1 to H-1B path has long been a pipeline for U.S.-trained STEM graduates. Workers changing status inside the U.S. were exempt from the $100,000 payment. But they still have to win the lottery, and the proposed $103,265 fee would apply to all cap-subject petitions, including theirs.

Then there’s timing. Even in a good year, work visa processing time for a cap-subject H-1B runs from a March registration to an October 1 start date. That’s a long wait when you have a role to fill now.

Here’s the thing. The need that drove companies to the H-1B is still there. The H-1B was just one way to meet it.

You can hire for those same skills where the talent already lives. A dedicated offshore professional works on your team, in your tools, and on your schedule. There’s no lottery, no petition, no visa wait, and no six-figure fee. And you can bring someone on as soon as you find the right fit.

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What Can Your Business Do Without the H-1B Visa?

So, the H-1B visa is dead – what now?

There are certain exemptions to the new H-1B visa fee. Workers deemed necessary for national security or who it is in the best interest of the country to have can get a visa without having to pay Trump’s new fee. These exemptions, though, are highly specific, and many positions a business might want filled won’t meet the standards.

Other visas do exist, but if a business tries to use them to bring a worker into the country, the federal government might disapprove, which can lead to significant financial and legal penalties.  

An obvious path for any business to go down is to simply try to find local talent. This creates problems, though. Local workers don’t always have the skillset that a business might desire, or demand a reasonable salary, and businesses might simply not be in a location that could attract the talent they need.

Businesses can also try to hire employees from the wider United States, but potential employees don’t always want to relocate. Relocation could also mean demands for higher pay or certain benefits, neither of which a business might be willing to deal with.  

Another option exists, though. The H-1B visa itself is chaotic and challenging for a business to work around, and local talent isn’t always enough, but if the goal of the H-1B visa program is to help businesses get their hands on highly skilled workers they can’t find in the US, then labor offshoring can fill the gap.

Remote offshore workers are more than capable of filling the role of workers with H-1B visas or domestic employees, and they can do it without the same downsides.

Labor offshoring allows businesses to find and work with highly skilled and experienced employees for significantly less than their H-1B visa-holding counterparts, or even domestic employees.

With offshore labor, businesses no longer need to work tirelessly and pay exorbitantly high fees to find and employ the best workers from outside the country – they can simply hire workers directly outside of the country.

High-skilled roles like software engineering, marketing management, product design and development, and even high-level executive roles can be filled by remote offshore labor.

With reductions in salaries ranging up to 70%, labor offshoring offers unprecedented opportunities for reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and boosting growth.

By using offshore labor, businesses can often afford to hire multiple workers for the price of one, providing unprecedented scalability. Workers can also be employed in different time zones, meaning that a business can operate 24/7, allowing for extraordinary efficiency.

Businesses can leverage offshore bookkeeping services, offshore Filipino virtual assistants, online content managers, tech support, HR representatives, and more - all while saving money through labor offshoring.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. ‍Is the H-1B visa dead? No. The H-1B program still exists, and employers can still file petitions. Only Congress can abolish it. But between the court fight over the $100,000 payment, a proposed $103,265 fee, a wage-weighted lottery, and tighter enforcement, it’s no longer a reliable way for most companies to hire and scale.
2. ‍Is the H-1B visa going away? There’s no law ending the H-1B program. What’s changing is who can realistically use it. New rules favor higher-paid roles, and proposed fees and wage floors would make sponsorship far more expensive. Expect a smaller program focused on top earners, not a full shutdown.
3. ‍What is the $100,000 H-1B fee? It’s a one-time payment required by a September 2025 presidential proclamation for new H-1B petitions filed for workers outside the U.S. It doesn’t apply to extensions, transfers, or changes of status inside the U.S., such as F-1 to H-1B. The proclamation provides no refund process.
4. ‍Is the $100k H-1B fee still in effect? Not right now. As of October 2026, federal courts in Massachusetts and California have blocked collection, and employers aren’t currently required to pay it. But the President extended the proclamation through September 21, 2027, and the government is appealing. The fee could return, so check the latest status before filing.
5. ‍How much does it cost to sponsor an H-1B worker? Standard government fees for a larger employer come to about $3,595 per new petition, or $6,560 with premium processing. Attorney fees come on top. If the $100,000 payment applies, the total tops $106,000. A proposed $103,265 cap petition fee could push it past $200,000.
6. ‍Did the U.S. replace the H-1B lottery with a skills- and pay-based system? Partly. Starting with the FY 2027 cap season, the random lottery became a weighted one based on wage level. Level IV wages get four entries, Level III three, Level II two, and Level I one. There’s no direct skills test. Higher-paid roles simply have better odds of selection.
7. ‍What is the future of the H-1B visa? Higher costs and more scrutiny. Watch for a final Department of Labor rule raising prevailing wage minimums, the outcome of the $100,000 fee appeals, the proposed $103,265 fee, and stronger enforcement under a September 2026 executive order that weighs employer layoffs in H-1B decisions.
8. ‍Why do companies hire H-1B workers? Mostly to fill skills gaps they can’t cover with U.S. hires, especially in tech. In fiscal year 2023, 65% of approved H-1B workers held computer-related jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects software developer, QA, and tester jobs will grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average.
9. ‍How long does H-1B processing take? For cap-subject workers, it runs on a fixed calendar. Registration happens in March, petitions can be filed starting April 1, and the earliest start date is October 1. Premium processing ($2,965) gets a faster USCIS decision on the petition, but it doesn’t move the October 1 start date.
10. ‍Can F-1 students still switch to H-1B status? Yes. F-1 students can still change status to H-1B inside the U.S., and that path is exempt from the $100,000 payment. They still need to be selected in the lottery, though. The proposed $103,265 fee would apply to all cap-subject petitions, including F-1 to H-1B cases.
11. ‍What is the best alternative to the H-1B visa? For many companies, it’s hiring offshore. A dedicated offshore professional can do the same skilled work remotely, with no lottery, no petition, and no visa wait. With salary savings of up to 70%, you can often hire more than one skilled worker for the cost of a single H-1B hire.