The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a fee of $103,265 on new H-1B visas, the category used for skilled professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The figure appeared in a Federal Register notice on Monday, with official publication set for Tuesday, Yonhap reported. Public comments will be accepted for 30 days from that date.
The proposal follows a defeat in court. A federal judge ruled in June that a $100,000 charge on the same visas was illegal, and the department is now pursuing the fee through rulemaking rather than by executive fiat, Japan Times reported.
The original charge came from a proclamation 
Donald Trump signed in September, imposing an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B applications. That proclamation is written to expire next month, which leaves the department needing a separate instrument if the charge is to survive past then.
DHS set out the rationale in the notice itself: the fee "would serve as a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government's costs of administering the lawful immigration system." The department has not published an estimate of how many petitions the charge would apply to, nor of the revenue it expects.
The charge falls on the sponsoring employer, which would pay roughly $103,000 for each candidate it puts forward, Japan Times reported. The programme runs under an annual worldwide cap of 85,000 visas, so the proposal reaches a fixed and comparatively small population of petitions rather than a growing one.
Korea Times described the level as unprecedented for the programme. Yonhap placed the notice within the administration's wider tightening of immigration controls under its America First policy. Whether the fee takes effect depends on the comment period and on any fresh litigation, which the June ruling leaves a live prospect.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
