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DHS Expands $4,000 H-1B, $4,500 L-1 Fee to Cover Same-Employer Extensions: What It Means for Indian IT Firms
For years, a specific class of large employers in the United States has budgeted for a familiar cost on immigration petitions: an extra $4,000 on qualifying H-1B petitions and $4,500 on qualifying L-1 petitions. These used to be charged only when hiring someone new or when a worker switched employers. That narrow scope is about to disappear. Under a new Department of Homeland Security rule, the same fee will now apply even when nothing about the employment relationship changes at all. This shift has outsized consequences for the Indian IT and consulting firms that dominate H-1B sponsorship in America. As always, our EB-1A consultants have zoomed in on this important update.
What is actually changing
The fee itself is not new. Officially called the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee, it was created in 2015 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, replacing and doubling an earlier supplemental H-1B and L-1 fee first enacted in 2010. As one legal explainer summarized it plainly: “Employers with at least 50 U.S. employees, where more than half the workforce holds H-1B or L-1 status, already pay an extra $4,000 for qualifying H-1B petitions and $4,500 for qualifying L-1 petitions.” Historically, that fee was attached to just two scenarios: a new H-1B petition, or a petition where a worker changed employers.
DHS finalized a rule expanding the fee to also cover extension-of-status petitions, including, critically, extensions where the worker stays with the exact same employer. Immigration firm NNU Immigration confirmed the mechanics: “From September 9, 2026, covered employers will have to pay the additional $4,000 H-1B fee or $4,500 L-1 fee when requesting an extension of the beneficiary’s stay, including same-employer extensions.” Law firm Mantra Law Office echoed the same point, describing the change as applying “not only to qualifying initial petitions and changes of employer, but also to extension-of-status petitions — even when the employee is continuing with the same employer.”
Amended petitions that do not themselves seek an extension of a worker’s existing status remain exempt from the fee, a distinction employers will need to track carefully as they classify each filing.
Who counts as a “covered employer”
The fee is targeted specifically at large, visa-concentrated employers. As consulting firm ILS summarized, the rule “generally applies to employers with 50 or more employees in the United States where more than 50% of their U.S. workforce is in H-1B or L-1A/L-1B status.” Both conditions have to be met simultaneously; an employer with 50-plus U.S. employees but a workforce that is majority non-visa-holding would not be considered “covered” under the rule, and vice versa.
That threshold, often referred to informally as the “50-50 rule,” is not necessarily fixed for any given company. Employers hovering near the line are being warned not to assume their status is stable. As one legal alert cautioned: “Organizations close to the 50/50 threshold cannot assume their position remains static, particularly where recruitment, departures or status changes alter workforce composition.” In other words, ordinary hiring and attrition could push a company across the line in either direction between filings.
The numbers behind the rule change
The scale of the shift becomes clearer when framed against historical filing patterns. According to analysis published by immigration law resource Path2Immigration, DHS itself calculated that “from fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2025, 27 percent of H-1B petitions from covered employers were subject to the 9-11 Biometric Fee. Under this rule, it would have been 75 percent.” That’s nearly a threefold jump in the proportion of petitions carrying the extra charge. It also illustrates just how much of covered employers’ filing volume previously escaped the fee purely because it involved same-employer extensions rather than new hires or employer changes.
The final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2026, and took effect 30 days later, on September 9, 2026. Revenue from the fee is split: half flows into the 9-11 Response and Biometric Exit Account, capped at $1 billion, funding the federally mandated biometric entry-exit system Congress has required under a series of statutes. The other half goes to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund. The fee itself has a built-in sunset: it currently applies only to covered petitions filed on or before September 30, 2027, unless Congress acts again to extend it, as it has done before.
The impact on Indian IT and consulting firms
The practical burden of this change is expected to fall disproportionately on large IT services and consulting companies. This is a sector in which Indian firms and Indian-founded U.S. entities have long been the dominant H-1B sponsors. Because these companies typically maintain workforces where H-1B and L-1 holders make up a substantial share of U.S. headcount, many already meet the “covered employer” threshold. For them, routine, uneventful extensions for employees who have stayed with the same company for years (i.e. filings that previously carried no additional biometric fee at all) will now trigger the same $4,000 or $4,500 charge as bringing on a brand-new hire.
Legal advisors are urging exposed employers to move quickly. Mantra Law Office recommended companies “review your workforce composition, identify upcoming H-1B and L-1 extensions, and determine whether the new fee applies before filing.” Berardi Immigration Law offered similar guidance, advising employers to “budget for the change” and factor “the additional $4,000 or $4,500 per petition into your immigration budget for filings after the rule’s effective date,” while also noting that “extension petitions filed before the effective date should not be subject to the expanded fee requirement under the new rule.”
At GCEB1, our EB-1A consultancy is closely tracking the updates in the U.S. immigration landscape. Stay tuned to us to get more insights, analysis and strategies. We wish you a safe and stress free immigration journey ahead.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee?
It’s an additional fee: $4,000 for qualifying H-1B petitions and $4,500 for qualifying L-1 petitions, created in 2015 to fund federally mandated biometric entry-exit programs, historically applied only to new petitions and employer-change petitions.
2. What exactly changed under the new DHS rule?
The rule expands the fee to also apply to extension-of-status petitions, including extensions where the worker remains with the same employer: a category that was previously exempt.
3. Which employers are subject to this fee?
“Covered employers” are those with at least 50 U.S. employees where more than 50% of their U.S. workforce holds H-1B, L-1A, or L-1B status. Both conditions must be met.
4. When did this rule take effect?
The final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2026, and took effect 30 days later, on September 9, 2026.
5. Does the fee apply retroactively to petitions filed before September 9, 2026?
No. The expanded fee requirement applies only to petitions filed on or after the effective date; extensions filed before then are not subject to the new scope.
6. Are amended petitions subject to the new fee?
No. Amended petitions that do not themselves seek an extension of the worker’s existing status remain exempt from the fee.
7. How significant is the increase in petitions affected by this rule?
DHS data cited in legal analysis shows that from FY2018 through FY2025, 27% of H-1B petitions from covered employers were subject to the fee; under the new rule, that figure would have been approximately 75%.
8. Why are Indian IT and consulting firms particularly affected?
These firms are among the largest sponsors of H-1B and L-1 workers in the U.S. and often meet the “covered employer” threshold, meaning routine same-employer extensions for long-tenured staff will now carry the same fee as new hires.
9. Is there an expiration date for this fee?
Yes. The fee currently applies only to covered petitions filed on or before September 30, 2027, and its statutory authorization would expire after that date unless Congress extends it again.
Sources & further readings
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “DHS Expands 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee to Certain H-1B and L-1 Extension Petitions.” Federal Register, August 10, 2026. Federal Register — DHS Final Rule
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP. “United States: DHS Expands 9-11 Response Fee to H-1B and L-1 Extensions.” August 7, 2026. Read the Fragomen analysis
- Society for Human Resource Management. “New H-1B, L-1 Extension Fees Take Effect Sept. 9.” August 11, 2026. Read the SHRM article
- Chugh, LLP. “DHS Expands 9-11 Biometric Fee to H-1B and L-1 Extension Petitions.” August 7, 2026. Read the Chugh analysis
- Business Standard. “US Extends $4,000 H-1B, $4,500 L-1 Fee to Visa Extensions: Details.” August 11, 2026. Read the Business Standard report
- The Economic Times. “H-1B, L-1 Biometric Fee Hike: Who Has to Pay the Extra $4,000 and $4,500 under New US Rule?” 2026. Read the Economic Times report
- Telangana Today. “US Widens $4,000 H-1B Extension Fee.” August 10, 2026. Read the Telangana Today report
- Indian Eagle. “L1, H1B Visa News: New Renewal Fee Proposed for US Employers.” 2026. Read the Indian Eagle report
