The Trump administration is moving to tighten rules for foreign professionals in the United States, with the Department of Homeland Security expanding a $4,000 fee on certain H-1B petitions and a $4,500 levy on L-1 petitions to cover visa extensions, while separately considering eliminating the 60-day grace period that allows laid-off foreign workers to find new employment or change their immigration status.
The final rule on the visa extension fee will take effect on September 9 and could significantly increase recurring immigration costs for companies that rely heavily on foreign professionals.
The expanded fee will apply to employers with at least 50 employees in the US when more than 50 per cent of their US workforce collectively holds H-1B, L-1A or L-1B status. Such employers will have to pay the 9/11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee each time they seek an extension of a covered employee's status.
Until now, the fee generally applied to petitions seeking initial employment or a change of employer. An extension filed by the same employer for the same worker did not attract the fee when the separate fraud-prevention fee was not required.
"The regulatory changes correct DHS's interpretation of statutory language to require that covered employers submit the 9-11 Biometric Fee for all extension of status petitions, regardless of whether the related fraud prevention and detection fee applies," DHS said.
The change does not increase the existing fee amounts but broadens the number of petitions on which the charges must be paid. Covered employers will pay $4,000 for each qualifying H-1B petition and $4,500 for each qualifying L-1 petition. Amended petitions that do not seek an extension of the worker's authorised status will remain exempt.
The fee must be paid by the employer and not the visa holder. DHS rejected suggestions that workers be allowed to pay the fee if their employers were unwilling to do so, saying existing statutes and regulations specify that the employer is responsible for the payment.
The move could indirectly affect Indian technology and other skilled professionals if companies reconsider the cost of repeated visa extensions. Commenters had warned that higher expenses could discourage companies from retaining H-1B employees, reduce legal immigration and disadvantage workers caught in lengthy employment-based green-card queues.
DHS rejected those concerns, saying the fee applies only to a limited category of employers and is small compared with wages, relocation expenses and other costs associated with hiring foreign professionals. The department also said demand for H-1B visas has exceeded annual availability for more than a decade and it does not expect the rule to reduce the overall number of H-1B workers hired.
The department estimates that the additional payments to the US government will total $37.9 million in fiscal 2026 and $40 million in fiscal 2027.
The expansion is substantial. Between fiscal 2018 and 2025, about 27 per cent of H-1B petitions submitted by covered employers attracted the biometric fee. Had the new interpretation been in effect, approximately 75 per cent of their H-1B petitions would have been subject to it.
DHS said its earlier interpretation of the law had been incorrect. Congress included applications for extensions when it established the fee in 2015, but DHS had linked its collection to circumstances in which the fraud-prevention fee also applied.
The money supports the biometric entry-exit programme used to confirm the identity of foreign nationals entering and leaving the US. DHS said fee collections had fallen from $158 million in fiscal 2016 to $25.6 million in fiscal 2025 and argued that broader collection was needed to maintain facial-comparison and other biometric systems at US land, sea and air ports.
At the same time, the administration is considering a potentially more significant change for foreign workers who lose their jobs.
A proposed DHS regulation, listed as RIN 1615-AD22 and currently under review by the federal Office of Management and Budget, could eliminate the existing 60-day grace period for non-immigrant visa holders, including workers on H-1B, L-1 and O-1 visas, following the termination of their employment.
The existing rule gives affected workers up to 60 days to secure new employment, transfer their visa status or seek another lawful non-immigrant classification while remaining legally in the US. The proposed change has not taken effect and would ordinarily have to be formally published before the public could submit comments.
The move could have significant consequences for Indian professionals, who make up a large share of H-1B visa holders in the US, particularly those working in technology, engineering and healthcare.
Ajay Bhutoria, a former member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, urged the administration to withdraw the proposal, calling the elimination of the grace period "inhumane and unworkable".
"When a worker faces a sudden termination, 60 days was already dangerously short. Stripping away this protection entirely leaves thousands of law-abiding individuals with zero time to wrap up their lives," Bhutoria said.
He said the impact would extend beyond individual workers to their spouses and children, who could face difficulties with housing, school arrangements and other family commitments if workers are forced to leave the country immediately after losing their jobs.
Bhutoria also argued that recruitment for specialised positions often involves several rounds of interviews, background checks and immigration paperwork, making it difficult for workers to secure new employment within a short period.
He said he had previously advocated extending the grace period to 180 days for specialised technology and engineering workers and urged DHS to consider such an extension instead of eliminating the existing protection.
The proposal has drawn concern from South Asian organisations and immigration advocates, who are expected to prepare comments if it is published in the Federal Register.
The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers for specialised occupations requiring advanced knowledge. Indian nationals have historically received the largest proportion of H-1B visas issued by the United States.
