In September 2025 the President restricted the entry of new H-1B workers unless their employer paid $100,000. A year later the restriction has been upheld by one federal court, its implementing guidance has been vacated by another, and the proclamation itself has been extended to 2027.

Quick Facts

  • Proclamation 10973 (Sept. 19, 2025; 90 FR 46027), effective Sept. 21, 2025
  • Extended by Proclamation 11069 to Sept. 21, 2027
  • Upheld: Chamber of Commerce v. DHS (D.D.C. Dec. 23, 2025)
  • Guidance vacated: California v. Mullin (D. Mass. June 8, 2026); stay denied by the First Circuit July 24, 2026

What the proclamation does

Invoking sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Proclamation 10973 restricts the entry of H-1B specialty-occupation workers unless their petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a $100,000 payment. It directs DHS to restrict decisions on petitions without the payment for workers who are outside the United States, applies to people who enter or try to enter after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on September 21, 2025, and lets the Secretary of Homeland Security exempt individuals, companies or whole industries in the national interest.

USCIS’s guidance states that the proclamation does not apply to previously issued H-1B visas or to petitions submitted before September 21, 2025, and does not change the fees for H-1B renewals.

The rules that came with it

  • Weighted selection. A DHS final rule of December 29, 2025 (90 FR 60864) replaced the purely random H-1B lottery with a selection weighted toward higher-paid, higher-skilled positions, in effect for the fiscal year 2027 cap season.
  • Prevailing wages. The Department of Labor proposed higher prevailing wage levels on March 27, 2026 (91 FR 15454).
  • Layoffs. Executive Order 14431 (Sept. 18, 2026) directs the agencies to weigh an employer’s recent or planned layoffs of similar U.S. workers when handling its H-1B filings.

The litigation

  • Upheld in Washington. On December 23, 2025, the District Court for the District of Columbia rejected a challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others (Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. DHS, No. 25-cv-3675).
  • Vacated in Massachusetts. On June 8, 2026, the District of Massachusetts vacated the agency guidance implementing the payment, holding that the payment functions as a tax the President lacked authority to impose and that the implementation violated the Administrative Procedure Act (California v. Mullin, No. 1:25-cv-13829).
  • No stay. The district court briefly stayed its own order while the government sought a stay from the First Circuit, which denied it on July 24, 2026. USCIS states that it will comply with the order while DHS considers next steps, and that it still plans to collect the payment if the order is lifted.

The extension

The original restriction was set to expire after 12 months. Proclamation 11069 of September 18, 2026 (91 FR 60497) extends it until 12:00 a.m. eastern time on September 21, 2027. How the extension interacts with the vacated guidance is a question the courts and agencies will have to answer; USCIS’s H-1B page states the agency’s current position. The wider framework of labor certification and the H-1B Labor Condition Application is covered in Labor Law and Immigration.

Sources

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