H1B Fees in 2025-2026: The Real Cost of Sponsoring an H1B Worker

$4,000. $10,000. $20,000. Maybe more. That is what it actually costs an employer to sponsor a single H1B worker in 2025-2026, depending on company size, fee category, and whether they opt for premium processing. The number has climbed sharply, and for some employers, it is becoming a dealbreaker.

Key fact: It is illegal for an employer to pass H1B filing fees to the worker. The employer pays. But rising fees change which employers are willing to sponsor, and that affects you directly.

The Fee Breakdown: What Employers Actually Pay

Base Filing Fee (Form I-129)

• $780 for employers with 1-25 employees
• $1,615 for employers with 26+ employees

This increased substantially under the January 2024 USCIS fee rule. The previous base fee was $460 regardless of company size.

Asylum Program Fee

• $600 for employers with 26+ employees
• $300 for employers with 1-25 employees
• $0 for nonprofits and small employers qualifying for exemption

Introduced in the April 2024 DHS fee rule. It funds the asylum processing system; H1B petitioners pay it to subsidize an unrelated program.

Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee

$500 (flat, all employers), required for all initial H1B petitions and change-of-employer petitions. Not required for extensions with the same employer.

ACWIA Training Fee

• $1,500 for employers with 26+ employees
• $750 for employers with 1-25 employees
• $0 for nonprofits, universities, and government research institutions

Public Law 114-113 Fee (H1B-dependent employers)

$4,000 if the employer has 50+ employees AND more than 50% are on H1B/L1 visas. This targets staffing and outsourcing firms. Companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and Cognizant trigger this surcharge on most petitions.

Premium Processing (Optional)

$2,805. Guarantees a 15-business-day adjudication. Without it, processing can take 6-12 months. Many employers now file premium processing by default.

Total Cost by Employer Scenario

Plus attorney fees. Most employers use immigration law firms to prepare H1B petitions. Attorney fees range from $2,000 to $5,000 for a standard petition, more for complex cases. Realistic total for a large employer with premium processing and attorney fees: $9,000-$12,000 per petition.

So Where Does the "$100K" Come From?

The "$100K H1B fee" figure refers to cumulative costs over multiple years. An employer sponsoring an H1B worker through initial filing, possible RFE, extension, and eventually green card sponsorship (PERM + I-140 + I-485) can spend $50,000-$100,000+ over the full multi-year immigration journey. The actual single-petition cost is $4,000-$16,000 depending on employer profile.

Who Is Exempt from Certain Fees

Cap-Exempt Employers (Universities, Nonprofits, Government Research)

Cap-exempt employers enjoy significant fee advantages:

• No ACWIA training fee ($1,500 savings)
• No asylum program fee ($600 savings)
• No lottery required — cap-exempt H1Bs can be filed year-round

Total savings: $2,100+ per petition vs. a large cap-subject employer. Combined with no lottery requirement, cap-exempt employment is structurally the lowest-risk H1B path. Learn more about cap-exempt employers →

How Rising Fees Affect Which Companies Sponsor H1Bs

Small Companies Are Opting Out

A 10-person startup now faces $5,000-$7,000 in filing costs plus $3,000-$5,000 in attorney fees, all before the employee works a single day. Some are choosing to hire only candidates who already have work authorization (green card holders, US citizens, or existing H1B transfers).

Large Companies Absorb It Easily

For Google, Microsoft, or Amazon, $10,000 per H1B petition is a rounding error on a $200,000+ compensation package. Rising fees essentially widen the moat for large companies. They can afford the cost; smaller competitors cannot.

Staffing Firms Face the Biggest Squeeze

H1B-dependent staffing firms pay the highest fees per petition ($11,000-$16,000) and file the highest volumes. A firm filing 5,000 petitions per year is spending $55-80 million annually on H1B fees alone. This is compressing margins and, combined with increased USCIS scrutiny, is slowly restructuring the staffing industry's H1B model.

What This Means for Your H1B Strategy

1. Ask explicitly about fee coverage

A company might have an "H1B-friendly" policy but still hesitate on a $10,000 filing cost for a junior role. Ask: "Do you cover all H1B filing costs including premium processing?" Get it in writing.

2. Push for premium processing

Without premium processing, your petition sits in a 6-12 month queue. The $2,805 premium processing fee is paid by your employer. Ask them to include it. Most large employers now file premium by default.

3. Cap-exempt is more valuable than ever

The fee savings, lottery exemption, and year-round filing make cap-exempt employment structurally superior for immigration certainty. If you have a legitimate opportunity at a university, the immigration math strongly favors it, even if the salary is lower. Use our lottery odds calculator to see how cap-exempt compares to your current odds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my employer make me pay the H1B fees?

No. Under federal law, the employer must pay all H1B filing fees. It is illegal for an employer to require the employee to reimburse filing costs, deduct fees from wages, or condition employment on the employee covering fees. If an employer asks you to pay, that is a serious red flag and a legal violation.

Are H1B extension fees the same as initial filing fees?

Nearly the same, but extensions with the same employer do not require the $500 fraud prevention fee. All other fees (base, asylum, ACWIA) still apply. Extensions also do not require lottery registration.

Does the fee amount affect my approval chances?

No. USCIS adjudicators do not consider how much the employer paid in fees. Your approval depends on whether the role qualifies as a specialty occupation, your qualifications match the role, and the employer meets all regulatory requirements. Check a company's historical approval rate on H1BSignal before accepting an offer.