Budgeting the $100,000 H-1B Entry Fee Through 2027

The deadline sets the budget line

For a consular H-1B hire, where the worker is processed abroad, the first budget line is the end date: Proclamation 10973 extends the H-1B entry restriction for one more year, with the end set for 12:00 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2027. The workaround is a $100,000 payment that can remove certain H-1B specialty-occupation petitions from the restriction. Treat the date as a fixed filing window date for the mobility file, and put the payment in the budget before the petition is prepared.

The fee is no longer hypothetical: it began on September 21, 2025, with more than 700 petitions already including the payment. Requests for consular processing of H-1B workers dropped by nearly 97% from the FY 2025 cap season to the FY 2027 season. The date is the control point for the budget. A budget that ignores the date will discover the cost after the petition is underway. The fix is to put the end date in the same calendar as the filing window, so the team sees the deadline before the invoice.

The payment is the workaround

For a worker who must be processed abroad, the exemption is the difference between a petition that can move and one that stalls at the border. The payment creates a new evidence requirement: the file must show the payment before the petition is submitted. The exemption is the workaround; the file is the proof. The policy backdrop is direct: President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order and a proclamation targeting H-1B program abuses. The budget question is whether the approval can prove the payment, not just whether the team can afford it.

The budget should treat the fee as a filing cost

The biggest IT staffing and outsourcing firms cut their combined H-1B registrations from 24,946 to 2,055, a 92% drop. That contraction changes the risk profile: fewer registrations make each filing decision more noticeable. The fee should be approved with the same care as a petition that will be scrutinized, and the budget file should show why the cost was necessary for that worker. Reserve the amount before the filing decision is made, and give finance the amount before the petition is prepared. The approval should name the petition, the worker, and the payment, not a general contingency account. A general account delays the cost until the filing date arrives.

The approval should also name the expected entry process. A petition processed domestically does not need the same abroad processing analysis; a petition processed abroad needs the fee decision documented before the filing is prepared. Keep that distinction in the budget request, not split across an email thread. The budget request should be the single place where the fee decision is visible. The request should be specific enough that a reviewer can match the payment to the worker and the filing decision without reconstructing the approval.

The file must prove the payment before filing

The checklist is the control that turns the budget decision into evidence. Use it before submission, not after the budget team asks for the invoice. Each item is testable in a minute, and each item protects the filing file from a late discovery. The file should show that the payment was made for the right petition and that the team knew the end date. A reviewer should be able to find the proof without asking the mobility manager to reconstruct the decision.

• Confirm the petition will use consular processing to bring the worker into the United States.
• Reserve $100,000 in the filing budget before the petition is submitted.
• Obtain and retain the payment confirmation in the filing file before submission.
• Calendar September 21, 2027, as the end of the current entry restriction.