970x125
It has been chaos since President Trump signed a proclamation that adds a $100,000 fee for H1B applicants who are outside the US and planning to enter America, as many things were unclear from the announcement.
Earlier today, USCIS and Customs and Border Protection(CBP) released a policy memo clarifying President Trump’s H1B proclamation on how it works and who it impacts. Unfortunately, the current policy memo given by CBP and USCIS does not address all the scenarios and leaves more confusion. In this article, we will review the summary provided by them and its impact on H1B Visa holders.
Background: Trump’s H1B Proclamation with $100K Fee
On Friday, September 19, 2025, President Trump signed a proclamation that restricts the entry of H-1B visa holders who are outside the United States to protect American jobs. As per the proclamation, which is similar to an Executive Order(EO), H1B applicants outside of the US must pay $100,000 to the US Government to enter the US on an H1B and work.
The proclamation did not address many scenarios and was very generic, leaving confusion among H1B holders. For complete details, you can read the full summary of Trump’s H1B Proclamation with $100K Fee. Below is the screenshot of the key clauses from the signed proclamation.
Many things were not clear and everyone were waiting for the guidance from the USCIS, CBP or Dept of State. Earlier today, both USCIS and CBP published policy guidance on the same clarifying some aspects of the proclamation. Let’s look at these details in the next sections.
USCIS Guidance on Trump’s H1B $100K Fee Proclamation
The USCIS Policy memo does clarify few things, but does not really clarify everything. So, it is incomplete and does not address all the various scenarios. Below is the summary:
- Trump’s Proclamation with $100,000 Fee for H1B applicants only applies to future H1B applicants who submit an H1B petition to USCIS after 12:01 AM EST on September 21st, 2025. Below is the key statement from the USCIS guidance that defines it.
This proclamation only applies prospectively to petitions that have not yet been filed.
- The proclamation does not apply to any of the current H1B holders, who have an H1B petition approved or an H1B Visa stamping issued before the effective date of the proclamation, which is September 21st, 2025.
- The Proclamation does not impact travel of any of the current H1B Visa holders, who had an H1B Visa issued prior to the effective date of the proclamation, which is Sep 21st, 2025. This means that anyone who is outside of the US, but with a valid H1B stamp today, can travel to the US without any restrictions.
- Below is the screenshot of the official guidance from the USCIS. You can check out the official USCIS press release
What is not clear from the USCIS Guidance
It does not address many of the scenarios, whether the proclamation will apply to cap-exempt applicants, such as Universities or Nonprofit research institutions.
It also does not clarify whether the proclamation will apply to applicants who will file an H1B petition as an F1 student for the first time in the US during the next season.
There are many other scnearios that are not clear about the proclamation.
This is developing news, and we need to wait and see how things will look. So, stay tuned. What are your thoughts, share in comments below.
