How DHS Gets to $103,265—and Who Bears the Risk

The proposed $103,265 H-1B fee is best understood as a model with a large cost base, a chosen denominator, and several uncertain behavioral effects. The important questions are how DHS turns those inputs into one filing charge, why the money reaches agencies beyond USCIS, and whether the assumed number of paying petitions will survive the fee itself. The NPRM supplies a detailed estimate, but an estimate is not the same thing as a guaranteed revenue stream or a measured labor-market result.

A system-cost formula, not a service price

DHS starts with approximately $8,777,488,035 in costs it proposes to recover. It then divides that amount by an assumed 85,000 fee-paying H-1B cap-subject petitions:

$8,777,488,035 ÷ 85,000 = $103,264.57.

The agency rounds that result to the nearest $5 increment and proposes $103,265. At the rounded amount, 85,000 petitions would produce $8,777,525,000 in annual revenue, or approximately $8.8 billion. The small difference between the underlying cost figure and the rounded revenue projection is the result of rounding and presentation. It is not a hidden second charge.

The denominator is a policy choice as well as a number. DHS ties 85,000 to the annual initial H-1B allocation: 65,000 places under the regular allocation and 20,000 for qualifying U.S. advanced-degree beneficiaries. But the proposal is not saying that the direct government cost of each petition is $103,265. It is using a group of prospective petitioners to finance a set of costs the agency regards as part of the lawful immigration system.

That distinction becomes clear in the proposed allocation:

The table is not just a budget summary. It reveals the proposal’s theory of who supplies the service. USCIS would receive $3 billion, including approximately $1.8236 billion in projected unfunded non-premium Immigration Examinations Fee Account costs and a $1.1764 billion transfer of costs currently associated with premium processing. ICE would receive $1.05 billion for activities including vetting people whose cases are pending adjudication, vetting applicants for admission, and a shortfall in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

CBP’s proposed $76.2 million would support expansion of the Traveler Verification Service and biometric matching for travelers entering and leaving the country. EOIR’s nearly $3 billion would support immigration-court and appellate capacity, including approximately 8,400 additional positions and court, facilities, technology, interpretation, transcription, representation, and litigation-support costs. The Department of State’s $484 million would cover visa services, fraud-prevention tools, consular posts, data systems, and other listed activities. The Department of Labor’s $1.2104 billion would cover not only H-1B labor-condition work, but also programs involving PERM, prevailing wages, H-2A, H-2B, wage-and-hour enforcement, and legal support.

DHS describes those activities as connected to administering lawful immigration adjudication and naturalization services.