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The $4,000 / $4,500 9-11 Biometric Fee on H-1B and L-1 Extensions from 9 September 2026

On 10 August 2026 the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule, 91 FR 51360, that changes who owes the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee on H-1B and L-1 petitions. It takes effect on 9 September 2026. This page reads the rule itself rather than summaries of it: what the fee is, which employers are covered, which petitions it now reaches, and what it changes for the worker filling in a DS-160.

This rule is effective on September 9, 2026.

The fee amounts do not change. What changes is that a covered employer now pays the fee on every extension-of-status petition, including a plain extension with the same employer, where DHS previously collected it only when the separate Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee also applied.

What the fee is

The 9-11 Biometric Fee was created by Congress in December 2015 in section 402(g) of Public Law 114-113 (the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016), which raised an earlier 2010 supplemental fee. Its purpose, as the rule restates, is to fund the biometric entry-exit system that Customs and Border Protection is required to build. DHS collects it through USCIS as part of the petition filing.

The amounts, now written into 8 CFR 106.2(c)(8) and (9):

| Petition | 9-11 Biometric Fee | |---|---| | H-1B | $4,000 | | L-1 (L-1A or L-1B) | $4,500 |

The fee is charged once per petition. The rule is explicit that the word "combined" in the statute means the increase is "applied only once per petition, not once for the filing fee and once for the Fraud Fee".

Congress has extended the fee several times. The rule records that it "is currently set to expire on September 30, 2027", and the amended regulation says it applies to petitions filed on or before that date.

Which employers are covered

The fee applies only to what the rule calls covered employers: petitioners that

  • employ 50 or more employees in the United States, and
  • have more than 50 percent of those U.S. employees, in the aggregate, in H-1B, L-1A or L-1B status.

Both conditions must hold. An employer with 40 staff, or with 500 staff of whom 40 percent hold H-1B or L-1 status, is not covered and pays nothing under this rule. This is the same test used for the 2010 supplemental fee, and it is often called the "50/50 rule".

What changed: extension petitions

Before this rule, DHS read the statute so that the 9-11 Biometric Fee attached only to petitions on which the Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee was also due: initial grants of status and changes of employer. A covered employer extending the same worker's status, with no change of employer, paid neither fee.

DHS now says that reading "was not the best one". Its new interpretation is that the fee applies to all extension-of-status petitions filed by covered employers "regardless of whether the Fraud Fee is not applicable", and that when the Fraud Fee is $0 the covered employer simply pays

the filing fee + $0 for the Fraud Fee + the applicable 9-11 Biometric Fee (i.e. either $4,000 or $4,500).

DHS had already adopted this position once, in its August 2020 fee rule, but that rule was enjoined in unrelated litigation before it took effect. The 2026 rule restores the position in a stand-alone regulation.

What is exempt

The amended regulation carves out one case in words: a covered employer filing an amended petition that does not seek an extension of the worker's current H-1B or L-1 status is "exempt from this fee". A change in worksite or job duties filed without an extension request therefore does not trigger the $4,000 or $4,500.

Employers that fail the 50-employee or 50-percent test are outside the fee entirely, and nothing in the rule extends it to other visa categories.

What this means for your DS-160

The 9-11 Biometric Fee is an employer petition fee paid to USCIS at the petition stage. It is not a consular fee, it does not appear on the DS-160, and it is separate from the $205 machine-readable visa fee that petition-based applicants pay before the interview (see how much a U.S. visa costs for the full list).

What does touch the applicant:

  • Timing. A covered employer extending status on or after 9 September 2026 owes the fee with the petition. Applicants whose extensions were being filed close to that date may see the employer move the filing forward.
  • The petition receipt. The DS-160 asks for the petition receipt number for H and L visas. The fee change does not alter that number or the approval notice.
  • Consular processing after an extension. A worker who travels and applies for a new visa stamp after an approved extension pays only the normal visa fee at the consulate. The employer's 9-11 Biometric Fee has already been paid on the petition.
  • Cost pressure on renewals. For a covered employer, a routine three-year extension now costs $4,000 or $4,500 more than it did in August. The rule's own economic analysis notes commenters' concern that this "will have an adverse effect on the beneficiary"; the fee itself remains the employer's to pay.

This fee is unrelated to the proposed $103,265 fee on cap-subject H-1B petitions, which is a separate rulemaking still at the proposal stage. See the proposed $103,265 H-1B fee.

Frequently asked questions

Does the worker pay the 9-11 Biometric Fee? No. It is a petition fee submitted by the petitioning employer to USCIS.

Does it apply to H-1B transfers? Yes, and it did before this rule: a change-of-employer petition is an initial grant of status by the new employer, so both the Fraud Fee and, for covered employers, the 9-11 Biometric Fee applied already.

Does it apply to an amendment without an extension? No. The amended 8 CFR 106.2(c)(8) and (9) exempt amended petitions that do not seek an extension of the current status.

Does it apply to L-2 or H-4 dependants? No. The regulation names H-1B, L-1A and L-1B petitions only.

When does the fee end? The regulation applies it to petitions filed on or before 30 September 2027, unless Congress extends it again.

Sources

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