What Happened?

If your company relies on talent from overseas, the rules for hiring those workers just got more expensive and harder to navigate. Companies that hire foreign workers on H-1B visas are facing new fees, stricter rules, and added government scrutiny that could raise their costs and shrink their hiring options. The Congressional Research Service, Congress's research arm, documented a series of executive and regulatory actions the Trump administration took in 2026 to raise employer costs and tighten scrutiny of H-1B visas. ​

The Trump administration has rolled out a series of 2026 changes to the H-1B visa program aimed at raising employer costs and tightening scrutiny. The changes cover fees, how visa slots are awarded by lottery, minimum wages employers must pay, scrutiny of companies that have laid off workers, and whether foreign workers' spouses can hold jobs.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

Employers who hire H-1B workers from abroad already faced a $100,000 fee imposed in September 2025, and a new proposed rule would set that fee at $103,265. The Department of Labor (DOL) also proposed raising the minimum wage employers must pay H-1B workers. For the highest skill tier, the floor would be lifted from roughly the 67th percentile to the 88th percentile of the wage distribution.

DOL estimated those wage changes would raise H-1B employer costs by approximately $1.46 billion in the first year. Starting this month, spouses of H-1B workers lost their automatic right to keep working while a renewal application is pending, and the Department of Homeland Security is also considering ending their work eligibility altogether.

Both Sides, Now

President Trump has driven these changes primarily through executive orders and agency rulemaking, without a vote in Congress. The administration's position, as the CRS report describes it, is that the changes raise program integrity, favor higher-skilled workers, and better protect American wages. A September 2026 executive order requires agencies to consider whether an employer has recent layoffs when processing H-1B petitions. Current law does not bar employers with recent layoffs from hiring H-1B workers.

Opponents argue the restrictions make it harder for hospitals, schools, and other organizations to fill critical roles. A California federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in late September 2026 in *Global Nurse Force v. Trump*, citing businesses' inability to serve patients, students, or customers when unable to hire H-1B workers, according to Forbes. A second judge, in Washington, D.C., blocked the $100,000 fee the following day in a separate case, according to Reuters.

The administration is reshaping the H-1B program primarily through executive and agency action, leaving Congress to decide whether to legislate, conduct oversight or leave the changes in place.

What Happens Next?

Even before the courts stepped in, the $100,000 fee was followed by a 91 percent drop in initial H-1B petitions for consular processing from cap-exempt employers during the first eight months it was in effect, compared with the same period the prior year.

Several recent actions are still proposed rules, not final ones, including a $103,265 fee on each cap-subject petition, a proposed rule to raise prevailing-wage floors, and a proposed elimination of the 60-day grace period. The public-comment period for the proposed rule that would remove automatic deference to prior government approvals on renewal petitions closes Nov. 13.

Congress holds the power to write permanent rules for the H-1B program into law, conduct oversight hearings, or leave the administration's actions in place. Will lawmakers act before the courts or the rulemaking process settles the question?

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