For U.S. employers, immigration compliance has always involved more than simply filing the right petition on time. Government filing fees, employee work authorization, visa processing, and changing federal requirements can all affect the cost and timing of hiring foreign talent.

 
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), signed into law on July 4, 2025, introduced a significant new layer of immigration-related fees and statutory requirements. These changes are particularly important for employers sponsoring or employing foreign nationals because some immigration costs may now arise at stages of the employee's immigration process that employers have not historically budgeted for. 

H.R. 1 amended the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by establishing new immigration fees and requiring certain fees to be adjusted annually for inflation. 

For employers, the key question is not simply “How much are the new fees?” It is also: Who is responsible for paying them, when do they apply, and how should they be incorporated into workforce planning? 

H.R. 1 - officially the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21—became law on July 4, 2025. Among its many provisions, Title X, Subtitle A, Part I created a series of new statutory immigration fees.

 
Unlike ordinary agency fee changes, many of these amounts are established directly by statute. H.R. 1 also requires inflation adjustments for many of the fees, meaning employers and foreign workers may face changing costs from year to year. 

USCIS implemented the initial H.R. 1 fees in 2025 and subsequently announced inflation adjustments for Fiscal Year 2026. For FY 2026, USCIS calculated a 2.70% CPI-U increase based on the change from July 2024 to July 2025. 

This creates a practical compliance issue: immigration budgets can no longer rely exclusively on historical fee schedules. 

One of the most significant areas for employers involves Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).
H.R. 1 established new fees for certain employment authorization applications involving asylum applicants, parolees, and individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

 
For FY 2026, USCIS lists the following amounts: 

Not every EAD filing is an employer-sponsored immigration case. However, employers frequently employ individuals who rely on employment authorization obtained through humanitarian or other immigration categories.
That means HR departments and immigration teams should avoid assuming that an employee's work authorization costs will follow the traditional employer-sponsored petition model.

 
Employers should determine in advance: 

        • Whether the employee requires an EAD;
        • Which immigration category supports the EAD;
        • Whether the fee is the employee's responsibility or part of an employer-sponsored benefit;
        • Whether the authorization has a shorter validity period;
        • When renewal should begin; and
        • Whether the employer's immigration policy addresses these costs.  

H.R. 1 also created an Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) for individuals with pending asylum applications.
The initial statutory amount was $100. For FY 2026, USCIS adjusted the annual fee to $102.
This fee is especially relevant to employers because an employee's immigration status and employment authorization can affect the employer's ability to maintain a legally authorized workforce.
The April 2026 USCIS interim final rule further codified the annual asylum fee requirement and addressed consequences associated with failure to pay it. The rule also addressed employment authorization limitations connected with unpaid annual asylum fees.
For employers, the lesson is simple: employment authorization should be monitored as an ongoing compliance obligation, not treated as a one-time hiring document.
HR teams should establish procedures for tracking expiration dates and communicating with employees about documentation needed to maintain employment authorization. 

H.R. 1 also created a new Form I-94 fee.
The statute requires an alien who submits an application for a Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record to pay a minimum fee of $24, subject to statutory inflation adjustments.
USCIS's 2026 rule explains that, for USCIS-administered filings, the new fee applies to certain Form I-102 applications for replacement or initial nonimmigrant arrival/departure documents. It is generally collected in addition to other applicable filing fees.
For employers sponsoring foreign workers, this illustrates an important point: the immigration cost of bringing or maintaining foreign talent may involve multiple agencies and multiple separate statutory charges.
A company planning an international transfer, nonimmigrant visa process, or status-related filing should therefore consider the complete immigration-cost picture rather than looking only at the primary petition fee. 

H.R. 1 also created a Visa Integrity Fee applicable to certain nonimmigrant visa issuances.
The statutory provision establishes a minimum initial fee of $250 for fiscal year 2025 and requires annual inflation adjustments beginning in FY 2026.

 
This is particularly relevant to employers whose workers obtain nonimmigrant visas through U.S. consular processing.
For example, a company recruiting a foreign professional who needs a nonimmigrant visa may need to account for costs beyond the employer's petition filing fee. Depending on the circumstances, there may be government fees associated with the petition, visa application, visa issuance, and other immigration-related services. 

Employers should therefore review immigration budgets on a case-by-case basis rather than relying on a single “visa cost.” 

One of the most important distinctions is that H.R. 1 does not make every new immigration fee an employer obligation.
Some fees are imposed on foreign nationals based on the immigration benefit they seek. Others may arise in circumstances where the employer has no direct filing obligation.

 
This distinction matters because immigration law contains different rules concerning which costs an employer may voluntarily pay, which costs an employer is required to pay, and which costs may create wage, labor, or compliance issues. 

Employers should not automatically transfer every immigration-related expense to an employee simply because the employee is the beneficiary of the immigration benefit. 

A careful analysis of the specific visa category, filing, employment arrangement, and applicable Department of Labor requirements is advisable before deciding who should bear a particular cost.