On October 20, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance on its website regarding the presidential proclamation, “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” clarifying which H-1B petitions are subject to the $100,000 payment. USCIS also specified when and how the $100,000 payment must be submitted and how to request an exception from the payment requirement.
USCIS confirmed this proclamation applies only to prospective H-1B beneficiaries who are seeking entry into the United States from outside of the country, and it is not applicable to current H-1B visa holders or other foreign nationals in the United States eligible for change of status to H-1B. For example, F-1 OPT students eligible for change of status to H-1B in calendar year 2026 (fiscal year 2027) are not affected by the proclamation.
The “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” proclamation, issued on September 19, 2025, announced a $100,000 payment instituted on H-1B petitions, and was later clarified by a White House fact sheet, government memoranda, and most recently, formal USCIS guidance. Starting at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 21, 2025, the proclamation imposed a restriction certain H-1B workers’ entry into the United States unless a $100,000 payment has been submitted or a national interest exception is granted. The proclamation also mandates compliance measures and coordination between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of State to enforce these restrictions. The proclamation states that this framework is in place for twelve months, with potential for renewal beyond the initial one-year period.
The $100,000 payment applies to the following types of H-1B petitions filed on or after the effective date of September 21, 2025:
The $100,000 payment does not apply in the following scenarios:
Petitioners are instructed to submit the $100,000 payment through Pay.gov. USCIS stipulates that where the payment is applicable, petitioners must either make payment or obtain the national interest exception from the secretary of homeland security prior to filing the Form I-129 H-1B petition or risk denial of the petition.
USCIS states that exceptions to the $100,000 payment can be granted in the “extraordinarily rare circumstance” where the secretary of homeland security finds that a particular foreign national’s presence in the United States pursuant to H-1B status meets the following criteria:
USCIS instructs petitioners who believe a beneficiary is eligible for an exception to submit an exception request and supporting evidence via email to H1BExceptions@hq.dhs.gov.
In response to the proclamation, on October 3, 2025, a group of eleven plaintiffs consisting of a healthcare service provider, labor unions, religious organizations, academic organizations, and individual visa holders filed a lawsuit against the president, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the secretary of homeland security, USCIS, the director of USCIS, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of State, and the secretary of state. The lawsuit, Global Nurse Force et al. v. Trump, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking to prevent enforcement of the $100,000 payment and for the proclamation’s sections pertaining to restrictions on entry, adjudication, and visa issuance without fee payment to be declared unlawful.
Additionally, on October 16, 2025, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business association advocacy and lobbying group, filed a lawsuit challenging the proclamation against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, the secretary of homeland security, and the secretary of state. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking declaration that the proclamation exceeds the executive branch’s authority and to enjoin the departments from carrying out the provisions of the proclamation.