WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started approving H-1B petitions that would have been subject to the $100,000 fee, even though the employers never paid it, immigration law firm Meltzer Hellrung reports. For weeks, many of these petitions sat untouched, well past the 15-business-day premium-processing deadline, the firm said. Now approvals are coming through.

Source: Meltzer Hellrung — H-1B Petitions Approved Without the $100K Fee, Oct. 2026

A second immigration law firm, Harris Beach Murtha, reports the same pattern independently: as of October 2026, attorneys nationwide report USCIS adjudicating H-1B petitions filed between June and August 2026 under premium processing, for individuals located outside the United States, without requiring payment of the $100,000 fee.

Source: Harris Beach Murtha — Current Status of the $100,000 H-1B Fee, Oct. 2026

The September 2025 presidential proclamation imposed the $100,000 payment on certain new H-1B petitions, chiefly those for workers outside the United States. On September 18, 2026, the president extended it through September 21, 2027. Two federal courts have blocked the fee: a Massachusetts district court vacated it in June 2026 and the First Circuit declined in July to pause that ruling during the government's appeal, and a Northern District of California court barred enforcement at the end of September, including under the extension.

Source: Meltzer Hellrung — H-1B Petitions Approved Without the $100K Fee, Oct. 2026

USCIS has said it is complying with the court orders, but that it will collect the fee if the orders are lifted, Meltzer Hellrung reports. The appeals remain pending, and approvals are uneven: a petition still sitting past its premium-processing deadline may need direct action, the firm said. This is general information from law-firm reporting, not legal advice for any individual case.

Source: Meltzer Hellrung — H-1B Petitions Approved Without the $100K Fee, Oct. 2026