Lawmakers Call for Health Care Exemption from $100K H-1B Visa Fee

February 16, 2026

One hundred U.S. lawmakers are calling to exempt health care from a $100,000 fee for employers petitioning for new H-1B visas.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Background:  During September, the Trump administration issued a proclamation including a $100,000 fee for employers petitioning for new H-1B visas.
  • This fee would be required for H-1B petitions submitted after 12:01 a.m. on September 21, 2025.
  • The fee is designed to prevent “large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security,” federal officials said. 
• Advocacy:  In a letter last week to the Department of Homeland Security, the coalition of lawmakers calls for a health care sector exemption from the new $100,000 fee, noting how workforce shortages and chronic underfunding put hospitals on the brink.
• Pennsylvania support:  Six members of the Pennsylvania delegation (Boyle, Dean, Deluzio, Fitzpatrick, Houlahan, and Scanlon) signed the letter.
• Quotable:  “If these hospitals cannot petition for new H-1B visas to address their staffing needs without also having to pay this fee, it will further damage their financial viability,” the letter notes. “Critically needed open positions will simply go unfilled, leaving rural and high-poverty urban areas without adequate access to Care. We strongly urge you to exempt the health care sector from this burdensome fee.”

Read more about the letter from lawmakers online.