More than 200,000 H-1B visa applicants paid a $100,000 premium for expedited processing during fiscal year 2026 [1].
This surge in premium payments highlights a significant disparity in how foreign workers access the U.S. labor market, effectively creating a fast track for those with substantial financial resources.
Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, provided the figures during testimony before a U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday [1], [2]. Mullin said that the high fees allowed applicants to bypass the standard waiting period for work visa petitions.
According to the testimony, the expedited processing time for those who paid the premium was about 15 days [1]. In contrast, the standard processing time for non-premium H-1B applications was approximately seven and a half months [1].
The H-1B visa program is designed to allow U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. The disparity between 15 days and seven and a half months represents a gap of more than seven months in processing time, a delay that can impact hiring timelines and project starts for American companies.
Mullin's report to the Senate panel underscores the volume of applicants willing to pay $100,000 [1] to secure a faster decision on their legal status in the United States. The data reflects a trend where speed of adjudication has become a high-value commodity within the immigration system.
“More than 200,000 H-1B visa applicants paid a $100,000 premium for expedited processing”
The willingness of over 200,000 applicants to pay a $100,000 fee suggests that the standard H-1B processing timeline is viewed as an untenable barrier to business operations. This creates a two-tiered system where the speed of legal entry is determined by the ability to pay, potentially favoring large corporations or wealthy individuals over smaller firms and lower-earning specialists.
