H-1B or L-1 extension after Sept. 9, 2026: the 9-11 fee test

The deadline is the first fact: the final rule takes effect on Sept. 9, 2026.

The 9-11 biometric fee applies only if the employer meets both covered-employer thresholds.

For H-1B, a specialty-occupation visa, and L-1, an intracompany transferee visa, extensions filed on or after that date, run the test before you file.

The fee follows the extension, not the first petition

DHS, the federal immigration agency, adopted a final rule that puts the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee on covered-employer extension petitions.

The rule reaches same-employer extensions, not just initial petitions or change-of-employer filings.

That means a long-tenured employee who stays with the same company can trigger the same covered-employer analysis as a new hire.

The practical effect is to move the question from the employee's history to the employer's current workforce. The employee may have been hired years ago. The company may have grown, shrunk, or changed its mix of status categories. The filing team needs a current count, not a memory from the last petition.

An amended petition that does not ask to extend the beneficiary's current status stays outside the fee.

That distinction matters when a company files a correction, a location change, or a job-duty update. The fee rule turns on the extension request.

The fee turns on two workforce counts

The rule applies only to covered employers.

If the company does not satisfy both thresholds, it is exempt.

Both counts have to be true. A large company with a small status-category share does not become covered by size alone. A smaller company with a high share does not become covered by share alone. The test is conjunctive, and the filing team should record both answers.

Use the payroll data that matches the filing entity. The count should reflect the U.S. workforce at the time the extension is prepared. If the company has multiple entities, the filing team should confirm which entity is the petitioner and which employees belong to that entity's count.

The status count should be a simple inventory: who is in the U.S. workforce, and which of those employees holds H-1B or L-1 status. The inventory does not need to be perfect to the day, but it should be defensible. If the company has recently hired, terminated, or moved employees, the count should reflect that movement.

Keep the checklist below on the filing desk. Each item is a yes/no check that can be done before the petition is sent.

• Confirm the petition is an extension of status, not an amended petition that leaves current status unchanged.
• If the employer is covered, budget for the 9-11 Biometric Fee.
• If either answer is no, treat the employer as exempt from the 9-11 biometric fee.

The fee is authorized only through Sept. 30, 2027, unless Congress acts to extend it.

That deadline belongs in the same calendar as the extension filing.

The budget line is the reason to run the test early

Put the fee question in the same place as the filing deadline. The extension has a deadline, the fee question has a deadline, and the workforce count can change in between. A team that runs the test too early may have a stale answer. A team that waits until the last minute may discover a budget gap after the evidence is already assembled.

Run the test when the petition is ready to file, not when the extension is first discussed. If the count is close to a threshold, refresh it again before the filing is sent.

Keep the count, the status inventory, and the yes/no result with the petition file. The file should show the basis for the budget decision.