H-1B Visa Extension Costs May Rise Under Trump; How Indians Could Be Affected

The Trump administration in the United States plans to raise the cost of extending H-1B and L-1 visas. This change could make things more expensive for big American companies that hire skilled workers from other countries, including many Indians.

A final rule is expected in July. It will expand a special fee called the “9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee” so that it also applies when companies ask to extend these work visas. Right now, this extra fee only applies in certain cases. Companies with more than 50 workers, where over half already hold H-1B or L-1 visas, pay an extra USD 4,000 for new H-1B applications and USD 4,500 for new L-1 applications. They also pay it when a worker switches employers. The new rule says the same fees will now apply to every extension request for these visas.

This idea comes after a recent court loss for the Trump administration. A federal appeals court refused to stop a lower court decision that blocked a planned USD 100,000 fee on brand-new H-1B visas.

Three years of stay then an extension plea

Most H-1B workers stay for an initial three years and then need an extension. So the higher fees will raise immigration costs for companies that depend on foreign talent. The change also hits multinational firms such as Google and Meta. These companies use L-1 visas to move managers, executives, and specialists with special skills from their offices abroad to the United States.

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Indian professionals will likely feel the biggest impact. They receive the large majority of H-1B extensions each year. Official data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that 406,685 H-1B petitions were approved in the 2025 fiscal year. About 71 percent of them-- 2,91,542 petitions—were for people already working in the US who wanted to continue, not for first-time arrivals. Indians received 226,359 of those continuing approvals, or 77.6 percent of the total. Chinese workers came next with 31,581 approvals.

Tech firm

Large technology companies and IT service firms that hire many H-1B workers will be especially affected. Data from the National Foundation for American Policy shows Amazon received the most approved continuing H-1B petitions in fiscal 2025-- 14,532. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) followed with 5,293, then Microsoft with 4,863, Meta Platforms with 4,740, Apple with 4,610, and Google with 4,509.

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Overall, the higher fees on extensions are expected to increase costs for employers that rely heavily on skilled foreign workers.

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