H-1B $100,000 fee extended to 2027: what Indian students should check

The H-1B $100,000 fee extension is the US work-visa story Indian students should read before they pay a counsellor. On 18 September 2026, US President Donald Trump signed a new proclamation that keeps a $100,000 payment rule on certain H-1B petitions until 21 September 2027. This page is a student explainer, not a visa service. The White House text and USCIS practice always win over WhatsApp forwards.

First, the basic words

If you are in Class 12 or first year of college, these four words matter more than the headline.

• F-1 is the common US student visa. You study first. You do not start a full-time job on F-1 the way an employee does.
• OPT is optional practical training. After a qualifying degree, some F-1 students can work for a limited time in a job related to their course. STEM students often get a longer window. OPT is not a green card and not H-1B.
• H-1B is a temporary US work visa for a “specialty occupation” — usually a job that asks for at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific field. An employer must file the petition. You cannot buy an H-1B from a shop.
• H-1B lottery is the random draw used when more petitions arrive than the yearly cap. Paying a big fee does not guarantee selection.

A simple path many Indian families still talk about is: Indian degree or US master’s on F-1 → OPT job → employer files H-1B. The new fee fights the last step for people who are still outside the United States when the petition is filed. It is not a ban on studying in the US.

What Washington actually signed

The official document is titled Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers. It extends Proclamation 10973 from September 2025 for twelve more months. The new clock starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on 21 September 2026 and, unless extended again, runs to 21 September 2027.

Under the text, entry as an H-1B worker is restricted unless the petition is accompanied or supplemented by a $100,000 payment, subject to limited exceptions. The White House said the 2025 version had already been used for more than 700 petitions. The Secretary of Homeland Security can still exempt a person, a company, or an industry if the hire is judged to be in the US national interest and not a security risk.

Read the source yourself: the White House proclamation of 18 September 2026 at whitehouse.gov.

Who this page is for, and who should skip

Read this if you are planning a US master’s with a work-after-study story, you already hold an F-1 offer, or your family is comparing US versus India or Europe for the next three years.

Skip the panic version if you only want an Indian campus job, a GATE 2027 seat, or a chip-design internship in India. Those plans do not need an H-1B this week. Keep using the boards on campusreality.in/internships and campusreality.in/recruitments.

What the fee does not cover

Indian coverage and immigration lawyers have been repeating the same three limits. Treat them as the working picture until USCIS writes a new rule:

• The extra $100,000 was aimed at new H-1B workers coming from outside the United States, not at every Indian already in the US.
• Renewals of an existing H-1B were not the target of the 2025 fee design.
• Students already inside the US on F-1 who later move to H-1B have been a large share of new H-1B recipients. Several reports say the 2025 fee did not apply to that change-of-status group. If USCIS changes that reading, the official form wins, not this paragraph.

A second fact sits next to the proclamation: a US federal court earlier blocked collection of the $100,000 fee, and an appeals court left that block in place. Lawyers quoted in Indian papers on 19 September 2026 said an “extension” of a blocked order should stay blocked unless the government finds a new legal path. That fight is not finished. Do not pay anyone who claims they can “unlock” the fee this weekend.

Why Indian students feel this first

Indians are the largest country group on H-1B. USCIS data cited in Indian reporting for recent fiscal years puts India-born beneficiaries at about half to seven-tenths of approved petitions, depending on the table you open. That is why Indian IT benches, product companies, and US master’s students hear this news before a student in most other countries.

The money math is blunt. Older employer filing costs were in the low thousands of dollars. $100,000 is a company decision, not a student pocket expense. Firms will sponsor fewer offshore hires, push more work to India, or wait for people already on US campuses. That is a hiring filter, not a moral story.

What you should do this week

1. If a counsellor is selling a “guaranteed H-1B after MS”, walk out. No school can promise the lottery or the fee outcome.
2. If you already hold an I-20 or F-1 plan, write down the real sequence: study → OPT rules for your course → employer petition. Check the latest USCIS H-1B page before you sign a loan.
3. If you are still in Class 12, treat the US master’s as one option, not the only option. India chip design, product internships, and GATE remain live paths. See Semicon India 2026: what students should do.
4. If a parent is comparing Australia after the family-visa change, read that file separately: Australia student visa family ban.
5. Keep one official folder: White House proclamation, USCIS H-1B page, your university international-student office note. Delete screenshots that do not name a date.

Common traps

• Mixing F-1 with H-1B. Study permission is not work permission.
• Paying a “priority processing” tout in India for a White House fee. That is a fake-fee risk.
• Assuming the court case is over. It is not.
• Dropping an Indian campus plan tonight because a TV panel said “American Dream is dead”. Hiring in India still runs on projects, internships, and proof of work.

What this page does not do

It does not file your visa. It does not tell you which university to pick. It does not guess the next court order. For first-salary math after rate hikes and oil spikes, use the first-job 4 LPA note instead of mixing visa talk with in-hand salary talk.

Short FAQ

Does the fee start on 21 September 2026? The proclamation’s own clock starts then and runs a year. Whether USCIS can collect the money still depends on the court order. Check USCIS, not a reel.

I am in Class 12. Should I cancel SAT or GRE plans? No, not from this one document. Cancel only if your family budget already failed a real fee quote from a university, not from a headline.

If I do MS in the US, am I safe? Safer than someone sitting in India waiting for a fresh offshore H-1B, according to how the 2025 fee was described. Safe is the wrong word. You still need admission, funds, OPT rules, and an employer willing to file.

Where do I verify? Start with the White House proclamation and the live USCIS H-1B pages. Then ask your campus international office, not a paid Telegram admin.