$100,000 H-1B Fee Blocked Again: What It Means Now

The $100,000 H-1B Fee Is Blocked Again — Here’s What Changed on 24 July

For ten months, one number decided whether a US employer would even look at a candidate living abroad: $100,000. On 24 July 2026, a federal appeals court refused to bring that number back. If you are hunting for a sponsored job in the United States, this is the most consequential thing that has happened to your odds all year — and it is also the least settled.

Quick answer: As of 28 July 2026, the $100,000 H-1B fee is not being collected. A Massachusetts federal court vacated the policy on 8 June 2026, and on 24 July the First Circuit refused to pause that ruling while the government appeals. The block applies nationwide, but it is not final.

What actually happened on 24 July 2026

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied the government’s motion to stay a June ruling from the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts in State of California v. Mullin — the case in which a coalition of 20 states challenged the payment requirement, arguing it damaged public universities, schools and healthcare systems that depend on skilled foreign staff.

A “stay” would have let the government keep charging the fee while its appeal ran its course. The panel said no. In a seven-page order, the judges found the government had not made a strong showing that it was likely to win on appeal — which is the central test for that kind of emergency relief. One firm summarising the order noted the court’s blunt disposal of the request: “We deny the motion.”

The practical result is that the district court’s original order vacating the policy is back in force nationwide, and USCIS may not enforce or collect the $100,000 requirement at this time.

USCIS itself has acknowledged the position. The agency’s H-1B alert confirms that the First Circuit denied the government’s motion on 24 July 2026, and that DHS — while disagreeing strongly — will comply with the order as it considers next steps.

The full timeline, in plain order

• 19 September 2025 — President Trump signs Proclamation 10973, requiring a $100,000 payment with H-1B petitions for foreign nationals located outside the United States. Twenty states, led by California and Massachusetts, sue.
• 21 September 2025 — the restriction takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern.
• 8 June 2026 — the District of Massachusetts rules for the states, finds the policy unlawful, and vacates it in its entirety. Judge Leo Sorokin’s reasoning: the payment functioned as a tax.
• 12 June – 24 July 2026 — the fee is briefly collectible again while the district court’s own ruling sits under a temporary administrative pause.
• 24 July 2026 — the First Circuit refuses to extend that pause. The block resumes.
• Now — this was an interim decision on the stay request only; the court has not ruled on the merits of the appeal, and the government may still seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.

That zig-zag matters. Anyone who read a headline in June and stopped there has the wrong information today.

Who the fee ever applied to — and who it never touched

This is where most coverage loses ordinary readers. The fee was never a blanket H-1B tax.

It generally did not apply to H-1B workers already inside the United States: USCIS guidance exempted extensions, amendments, change-of-employer petitions, and change-of-status requests for people physically present in the country. Agency clarifications also confirmed the proclamation applied only prospectively — not to petitions already filed before the effective date, and not to people who already held validly issued H-1B visas.

The people it hit hardest were exactly the people reading this article: candidates sitting in Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Lagos or Manila, selected in the lottery, needing a visa stamp at a US consulate. That is “consular processing,” and that is what triggered the charge. In practical terms, a $100,000 line item made an overseas hire roughly as expensive as a senior salary — so many employers simply stopped considering candidates who were not already in the US.

What this means if you are job hunting from outside the US

Be precise about what has changed, because the honest answer is narrower than the headlines suggest.

What has changed: the single biggest cost objection a US employer had to sponsoring someone abroad is, for now, gone. If a recruiter told you in March that sponsorship was “off the table because of the hundred-thousand,” that objection is worth re-opening. It is a legitimate, fact-based reason to follow up on a stalled conversation.

What has not changed: everything else about the H-1B. USCIS has already received enough petitions to reach both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 US advanced-degree exemption for FY 2027. That cycle is closed. Realistically, the next cap registration window for most candidates arrives in the first half of 2027. The registration fee remains $215 per beneficiary, and if the cap is exceeded, USCIS now uses a weighted selection process that gives more lottery entries to higher wage levels rather than treating every registration equally.

Read that last point twice. Even with the $100,000 gone, the system now structurally favours higher-paid roles. A Level 4 offer is worth more entries than a Level 1 offer. Your negotiating leverage on salary is now also leverage on your odds of selection.

The tactical implication: do not wait for legal certainty before improving your position. Certifications, a stronger job title, a documented specialty, and an employer with in-house immigration counsel will do more for you over the next eight months than refreshing court dockets.

The date almost nobody is talking about

Here is the detail buried under the litigation noise. Proclamation 10973 has an expiry date written into it.

The White House text states that the restriction expires, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of 12:01 a.m. Eastern on 21 September 2025. Analysts have consistently read that as a window running from 21 September 2025 to 20 September 2026, extendable on the recommendation of the relevant federal agencies.

So there are two clocks running at once. One is judicial: the First Circuit’s merits decision, and a possible Supreme Court intervention. The other is the calendar. The proclamation also directs several cabinet secretaries to jointly recommend to the President, within 30 days of the lottery immediately following the proclamation, whether extending the restriction serves US interests.

Even if the government eventually wins its appeal, the original restriction lapses in roughly seven weeks unless it is renewed or replaced by a formal regulation. That is the single most useful thing an overseas candidate can understand right now — and it is missing from nearly every article currently ranking for this topic.

What happens next

A separate district court in Washington, DC had previously upheld the proclamation, and that conflict between courts points toward Supreme Court review, with the government expected to file an emergency application under the Court’s shadow-docket procedures. A further challenge also remains pending in the Northern District of California.

Translation: the fee could theoretically return with very little warning. If you are in an active sponsorship conversation, treat today’s position as a window, not a settlement.

Employers who already paid: the refund question

If you work in HR or you are advising a sponsoring employer, this is the open wound.

Whether employers who already paid the $100,000 are entitled to a refund is an unresolved question — the court’s order vacated the implementing policy but said nothing about refund mechanics. USCIS has not announced a uniform refund procedure, so employers are being advised to retain payment confirmations, petition records and receipt notices while waiting for guidance. SHRM’s coverage carries the same advice: preserve proof of payment, wait for formal agency guidance, and take legal advice on recovery.

A short checklist for candidates

1. Re-open dead leads. Politely follow up with any US employer who cited sponsorship cost in the last ten months.
2. Verify before you act. Filing positions in this case have moved fast; the current advice is to confirm the latest USCIS instructions immediately before any petition is submitted.
3. Aim higher on wage level. Weighted selection rewards it.
4. Keep a parallel track. The UK, Canada, Germany and Australia all run their own sponsorship routes and none of them depend on this litigation.
5. Do not pay anyone to “guarantee” an H-1B. No agent controls a lottery.

Key Takeaways

• The $100,000 H-1B fee is not being collected as of 28 July 2026, following the First Circuit’s 24 July refusal to stay the June vacatur.
• The ruling is interim, not final; Supreme Court intervention is widely expected.
• The fee never applied to most people already inside the US — it targeted consular processing.
• Proclamation 10973 sunsets around 20–21 September 2026 unless extended.
• FY 2027’s cap is already full; plan for the 2027 registration season and a higher wage level.
• Refunds for employers who already paid are an open question with no announced process.

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