On Sept. 19, President Trump announced major changes to the H-1B visa application — including a fee increase for employers who sponsor foreign applicants.
H-1B visas are given to “nonimmigrant … workers in specialty occupations,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. These visas allow international workers with advanced degrees to join the U.S. workforce.
The federal proclamation outlines a policy change that now requires employers to pay a $100,000 fee to sponsor an H-1B application, citing alleged “systemic abuse” of the policy over the past three decades. Previously, there was no singular fee, although employers typically spent around $10,000 on legal and administrative costs associated with the application.
In an X post, U.S. Customs and Border Protection clarified that the change only concerns those who apply for H-1B visas after Sept. 21, 2025. Those already in possession of an H-1B visa are grandfathered in under the previous policy, while those who applied before Sept. 21 are exempt from the increased fee.
The Trump administration claims that employers use the program to hire international workers for entry-level jobs in STEM fields, a practice that allegedly undermines “the integrity of the program and (is) detrimental to American workers’ wages and labor opportunities.”
The administration argues that while the H-1B program was initially intended “to fill jobs for which highly skilled and educated American workers are unavailable,” it is now taking positions away from American college graduates, citing high rates of unemployment in computer science fields.
The new financial threshold for securing an H-1B visa will have direct impacts on higher education in the U.S., affecting both students and faculty at Brown. Many international students depend on H-1B visas to secure work in the U.S. in the long term, while Brown may use H-1B visas to hire international faculty for a short period of time.
The University has filed H-1B visas on behalf of both teaching and researching faculty at Brown. In 2023 and 2024, the University was approved as the petitioner for 49 and 39 new H1-B visa applications, respectively. It is currently unclear to what extent these sponsorships will continue as Brown continues to face a budget deficit and the effects of federal funding cuts.
Director of International Student and Scholar Services Andrew Shiotani wrote in an email to The Herald that “many questions related to implementation are still very unclear.”
The University will “continue monitoring and assessing any guidance that becomes available” and will “consult with (its) educational associations and experts on immigration law,” he wrote.
The Herald reached out to 13 international students, all of whom declined to comment for fear of jeopardizing their immigration status.
OISSS is “focused on offering as much clarity as we can to current members of our community,” Shiotani wrote.
