H-1B Visa Cost for Employers: Calculator and Nearshore Comparison

How Much Does It Cost to Sponsor an H-1B in 2026?

Sponsoring a new H-1B worker costs a US employer about $2,200 to $6,600 in USCIS fees, plus attorney fees that often add several thousand dollars. That is before salary. Once you add a US salary, benefits and payroll taxes, the first year of an H-1B hire usually costs well over $150,000 for a mid-level software role. A $100,000 payment for some new petitions was announced in 2025, but a federal court has blocked it and employers are not required to pay it right now.

Here is every fee USCIS charges for a new H-1B hire from abroad, as of September 2026:

Source: USCIS fee schedule and Form I-129 instructions. Fees change, so confirm on uscis.gov before you file.

What the USCIS fees add up to

The $100,000 H-1B Payment: Who Pays and Where It Stands

In September 2025, a presidential proclamation added a $100,000 payment to certain new H-1B petitions. It targets petitions for workers who are outside the United States and do not already hold a valid H-1B visa. USCIS guidance said it does not apply to extensions, or to change of status requests for people already in the US, which covers most transfers between employers.

That leaves you planning around a cost that could come back if the appeal goes the other way. The calculator leaves it out by default. Open "Adjust the Assumptions" and tick "Include the $100,000 payment" to see what a new hire from abroad would cost if it is enforced again.

What the H-1B Costs Beyond USCIS Fees

The filing fees are the small part. These are the costs that make up the rest of the first year:

Put together, a mid-level machine learning engineer at the $135,000 benchmark from our hire pages costs about $182,000 in the first year as an H-1B hire, without premium processing and with the $100,000 payment left out. From year two it is still about $175,500 a year in salary and benefits.

The H-1B Lottery and Timeline

Most private companies are subject to the annual cap of 65,000 visas, plus 20,000 more for people with a US master's degree or higher. Demand is far higher than that, so USCIS runs a lottery each spring. For the cap season that opened in March 2026, DHS moved to a weighted selection system that gives registrations at higher wage levels better odds. In recent years about one in three registrations has been selected.

1. 1March Registration window opens. You register each candidate and pay the $215 fee.
2. 2Late March USCIS runs the selection and notifies employers.
3. 3April 1 to June 30 Selected employers file the full petition with the LCA and fees.
4. 4October 1 The earliest date a new H-1B worker can start.

If you decide to hire someone from abroad in April, the earliest start is October of the following year, and only if you win the lottery. If the registration is not selected, you wait another year or find another route. That wait is a cost too: the work stays undone or lands on the rest of the team. The calculator shows your next possible start date and how many months away it is.

H-1B Transfer vs New Petition

Hiring someone who already holds H-1B status in the US is a different case. There is no lottery if the worker was already counted against the cap, no registration fee and no $100,000 payment. You still file a new I-129 petition and pay the filing, ACWIA, fraud and Asylum Program fees. Under portability rules, the worker can usually start once the petition is filed.

The catch is supply. You can only hire from the people who already hold H-1B status and are willing to move, which is a small pool for any one role. Switch the calculator to "Transfer, already in the US" to see this route.

Alternatives to H-1B Sponsorship

If the lottery odds or the timeline don't work for you, these are the common alternatives:

H-1B vs Nearshore Cost for AI and Machine Learning Roles

AI roles are where the H-1B gets most expensive, because US salaries are high and every benefit and tax line scales with them. They are also some of the hardest roles to fill locally, so they come up often in sponsorship decisions. These are the mid-level salary benchmarks from our hire pages:

Mid-level benchmarks from LatamCent hire pages. Tags compare the two salaries only, before benefits, fees and the LatamCent service fee.

One detail works in your favor for these roles: since the weighted lottery started in March 2026, registrations at higher wage levels have better odds of selection. A senior AI hire has a better chance than an entry-level one. Even so, the best case is still an October 1 start and a first-year bill of $180,000 or more for each of these roles. Pick any of them in the calculator above to see the full numbers, or browse all the AI and machine learning roles we hire for.

H-1B vs Nearshore Hiring Side by Side

Here is how sponsoring an H-1B compares with hiring the same role in Latin America through LatamCent:

The H-1B makes sense when you need the person on site in the US, or when you are hiring one specific person you already know. If what you need is the skill, working your hours, in weeks rather than a year, hiring in Latin America costs less and removes the lottery. If you are hiring for AI, start with our machine learning engineer or data scientist pages, or see every role we hire for.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Immigration rules and fees change often. Talk to an immigration attorney about your case and check uscis.gov before you file.