Inland Northwest employers are reevaluating plans to hire international workers after the federal government abruptly raised the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 per worker, local immigration attorneys say.

Announced on Sept. 19, the new fee, which targets one of the nation’s primary programs for bringing in highly skilled foreign professionals, has left businesses, universities, and hospitals across the region in limbo. Attorneys say the policy appeared without the usual public comment period or published fee schedule, creating uncertainty that could delay research projects, engineering contracts, and medical placements that rely on H-1B sponsorships.

Hector Quiroga, owner of Spokane Valley-based Quiroga Law Office PLLC, says the increase has left employers unsure of how to move forward with recruitment and sponsorships that rely on foreign professional talent.

The news was hard to believe at first, Quiroga says, then created sheer confusion, followed by difficult conversations with several clients about the new cost of their workers. Discussions changed overnight from paying a few thousand dollars for 10 workers, for example, to $1 million for the same amount of workers. Even with lower interest rates and access to capital, the future feels uncertain for many employers and workers, he says.

“Some of these companies do, in fact, bring 10, 15, 20, and 50 individuals,” Quiroga says. “There are many ... companies that are very hesitant to invest when they don’t know what’s coming.”

The fee is not retroactive; it's only for new applicants, Quiroga says. However, there is still confusion and uncertainty surrounding the proclamation and what that means for employers and workers moving forward.

Alycia Moss, immigration attorney at the Coeur d’Alene office of Fennemore Craig PC, says several employers have mentioned they may choose not to enter the annual March lottery, where employers submit registrations for potential foreign workers. There is no fee to enter the lottery, she points out, adding that there are several lawsuits against the Sept. 19 proclamation by President Donald Trump, and things could change between now and then.

The filing fee prior to the new proclamation ranged from as low as a few hundred dollars for small employers and nonprofits, up to $4,000 for firms with less than 50 employees, if over half are H-1B or L-1 status — a visa that allows multinational companies to transfer an employee from a foreign office to a U.S. office, Moss says. Other fees were also included with the application, and do not include attorney fees, which can add between $3,000 to $10,000 depending on complexity, she says.

The president’s proclamation alleges that some employers have abused the H-1B program, Moss notes. While there are abuses within the program, Moss says she does not think that those abuses are coming from the small and mid-level businesses in the region.

“I worry about the smaller companies,” Moss says. “Where H-1Bs help them find qualified employees that they need, that they can’t find. What they’re doing is really hurting small to medium businesses (instead of) going after abuses from really big businesses. It’s kind of taking a hammer instead of a scalpel to a problem.”

Moss estimates that over 90% of the companies that have come to her for help hiring workers through the H-1B visa program have been advertising the position at a competitive wage for months, and sometimes over a year, before they come to her.

“Then they say, I just need to find somebody, and I’ve heard of this H-1B program, so let’s try it,” she says.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the H-1B visa program allows companies and other employers in the U.S. to temporarily employ foreign workers with bachelor's degrees or other advanced degrees in positions that U.S. employers struggle to hire. The number of visas each year is capped at 65,000 for applicants with a bachelor’s degree and 20,000 for applicants with a master’s degree. Universities, affiliated hospitals, and certain nonprofits tied to academic institutions are exempt from this cap. As of early 2025, estimates place the number of H-1B visa holders in the U.S. at 730,000, including 550,000 dependents.

The $100,000 fee applies to both exempt and non-exempt employers, Moss emphasizes.

The visas are selected in a lottery drawing each March, Quiroga says. The majority of the winners, about 70%, are from India, and for them, it's like winning the lottery, he says. In 2023, the median wage for H-1B visa holders stood at $118,000, on par with the 90th percentile of all U.S. wages.

While the common perception ties H-1B visas to big tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, Moss highlights that the program is used by various industries for occupations that legally qualify as a “specialty occupation requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher."

Regionally, Moss says accounting firms, architectural firms, wineries, public relations firms, and health care settings also rely on the H-1B program.

“Some of these companies are not hiring for their tech,” she says. “They are hiring, actually, for their people.”

In Eastern Washington, universities and private enterprises are the highest users of the H-1B program. Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, has four H-1B visa holders; Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington, employs 49 H-1B visa holders; and Gonzaga University employs 10 H-1B visa holders, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additionally, major employers including Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc. employs 23 H-1B visa holders, and Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. has 54 H-1B visa holders, data shows.

Other Eastern Washington companies and institutions that hire H-1B holders include Spokane-based NAC Inc., Clearwater Paper Corp., and Whitworth University, among others. In North Idaho, Battelle Energy Alliance LLC employs 33 H-1B visa holders, and the University of Idaho employs 13.

As lawsuits challenging the $100,000 H-1B visa fee move through federal courts, immigration attorneys say most Inland Northwest employers that use the program are taking a wait-and-see approach. 

“People are worried,” Moss says. “My clients, other businesses in the Northwest, are worried.”