On Sept. 19, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that imposes a new $100,000 fee on each H-1B visa that a company applies for.
This change could impact non-U.S. physician recruitment at Mayo Clinic, which applies to sponsor hundreds of potential employees’ H-1B visas each year, per data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
This type of visa allows non-U.S. professionals in specialty occupations to work in the country for up to six years.
Typically, the cost for an employer to sponsor an H-1B visa is $3,380, said Bo Cooper, a Washington, D.C.-based immigration attorney and partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.
“The new $100,000 fee is a big jump, but it does not apply across the board to every H-1B, or every year, as had been initially indicated,” Cooper said. “It is a one-time fee that applies to new petitions filed on or after Sept. 21, 2025, and the government has stated that it doesn’t affect existing H-1B visa holders or extensions with the same employer.”
Mayo Clinic is the third-largest sponsor of H-1B visas in Minnesota; it has had 366 applications approved in 2025 and 390 in 2024.
Mayo Clinic did not respond to email messages from the Post Bulletin.
The University of Minnesota is another big sponsor of H-1B visas, having had 165 approved this year.
“The university is aware of the proclamation and will continue to keep all members of our community who are affected by immigration policies well-informed so they can best navigate their responsibilities in compliance with law and policy,” the university said in a statement. “Recruiting international students and scholars has been and will remain a firm commitment.”
Physicians make up the bulk of Mayo Clinic’s H-1B visa holders, per H1B Grader. In 2025, 153 of Mayo Clinic’s approved H-1B applications were for clinical residents. Non-U.S. doctors must complete a medical residency in the U.S. or Canada in order to practice medicine in the U.S.
On Sept. 22, Bloomberg first reported that the Trump administration may exempt physicians from the $100,000 fee.
“The proclamation does allow for exemptions where the Department of Homeland Security decides the employment is in the U.S. national interest,” Cooper said. “We don’t yet know exactly which roles will qualify, but it’s possible that positions in critical sectors, like health care, could be included, reflecting the continued need for skilled international talent in essential roles.”
But, as previously reported by the Post Bulletin, physicians aren’t the only foreign professionals recruited by Mayo Clinic. Other job titles for H-1B visa holders at Mayo Clinic include research associate, social worker, senior software engineer, nurse anesthetist and more.
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Legal challenges against the new fee are likely, Cooper said, “though it is difficult to predict the result.”
“Congress and the Supreme Court have provided broad leeway to restrict the entry of people or classes of people whose entry (Trump) finds would be detrimental to the interests of the United States,” he continued, “but this proclamation is different in important ways from prior exercises of this authority, and H-1B fees are an area where Congress has already spoken in detail. For now, employers and foreign nationals are watching closely to see how these new rules will play out for high-priority hires.”
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