As spring graduation season approaches, a US immigration attorney is urging international students, and the employers who hire them, not to delay conversations about the H-1B lottery.
The warning comes amid widespread confusion about visa costs that is already affecting hiring decisions.
‘No $100,000 H-1B fee for F-1 students’
Managing Attorney Andre Matias from Altius Immigration Law, Washington, clarified via a LinkedIn post that the newly imposed H-1B fee of $100,000, won’t be levied on students transitioning from an F-1 visa.
“For most employers, the new $100,000 H-1B fee is very real and very disruptive. It is already causing hesitation, delays, and second guessing in hiring decisions. But note there is an important exception for students. Students transitioning from F-1 to H-1B are carved out of the 100,000 fee,” he said.
‘This opens a rare opportunity for employers’
Matias said this caveat opens a “rare opportunity for employers”.
The possible reason for this could be that students moving from F-1 status (including OPT or STEM OPT) to an H-1B through the annual lottery are treated no differently under the law in terms of standard H-1B fees, but crucially, they are often cheaper and lower-risk hires in practice.
They are already authorised to work, are known quantities to employers, and allow companies to plan sponsorship in advance rather than scramble later.
So where does the problem arise?
Matias wrote that it is timing. If students wait until after graduation, or worse, until OPT is close to ending, to raise the H-1B conversation, employers may have already made assumptions that sponsorship is too costly or complicated.
“These conversations should be happening now,” the attorney advised, “before offers are finalised and before misinformation drives decisions.”
For employers, early discussions could provide clarity on real, not rumoured, costs, realistic timelines, and lottery odds.
For students, it would be a chance to explain their status, the H-1B process, and options such as cap-gap extensions or STEM OPT that can give companies more flexibility.