It is the most commonly violated rule on the internet about H-1B: the employer pays almost all of the fees, and several of them cannot be passed to or reimbursed by the worker. Doing so is a Department of Labor violation, not a gray area.
The H-1B fee structure is built around the principle that sponsorship is an employer's business cost, not a charge the worker buys their way into. That's why the statute and DOL regulations bar the employer from shifting certain fees onto the beneficiary — including through indirect routes like a "clawback" clause that only kicks in if the worker leaves early. If a required fee comes out of the worker's pocket and pushes their effective pay below the required wage, it's a violation.
| Fee | Who pays | Worker reimbursement |
|---|---|---|
| ACWIA training fee ($750 / $1,500) | Employer | Prohibited |
| Fraud Prevention & Detection ($500) | Employer | Prohibited |
| Public Law 114-113 fee ($4,000) | Employer | Prohibited |
| I-129 base + Asylum Program | Employer | Generally prohibited |
| Premium Processing ($2,805) | Employer or candidate | Permitted |
| Attorney fees — the petition | Employer | Generally prohibited |
| Attorney fees — personal advice | Worker | N/A |
Premium Processing ($2,805) is the exception. It's optional — it buys roughly 15-day adjudication instead of the standard several-month wait — and because it serves the beneficiary's own scheduling needs (for example, a start date or a travel plan), the candidate is permitted to pay for it without creating DOL exposure. Everything else on the required list is the employer's responsibility.
If a prospective employer asks you to cover the ACWIA training fee, the Fraud Prevention fee, or the petition attorney's bill — or writes a contract that recoups those costs from you if you resign — that's a red flag worth raising with an immigration attorney. It doesn't mean the job is bad, but it does mean the arrangement may not be compliant. Knowing what your employer is required to spend also reframes the negotiation: the sponsorship cost is the employer's investment in you, which is useful context when you're weighing an offer, a transfer, or a green-card commitment.
Budget the required fees as employer costs from the start, and be careful with any repayment or training-cost-recovery language in offer letters — the restricted fees can't be recovered from the worker even indirectly. When in doubt on a specific clause, have counsel review it against the current DOL wage-and-hour rules.
The H-1B sponsorship cost calculator separates employer-obligated fees from the optional ones and shows the loaded total from both the employer and candidate perspectives. It runs entirely in your browser.
Reflects guidance current as of May 2026: fee amounts use the post-April-2024 USCIS schedule (Premium Processing $2,805). Fee-shifting rules are enforced by the DOL Wage & Hour Division — verify current worker-protection rules on dol.gov. This guide is educational and not legal or immigration advice; see our disclaimer.
Sources: DOL Wage & Hour Division H-1B worker-protection guidance; USCIS H-1B fee schedule (post-April 2024); American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA); Public Law 114-113.