Congress sets immigration law. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) governs visas, including H-1B.

USCIS (part of DHS) sets fees, but only within authority granted by Congress. Under 8 U.S.C. §1356(m), USCIS may charge fees to recover the “full costs of providing adjudication services,” but those fees must be reasonably tied to costs, not arbitrary revenue raising.

President cannot set fees directly. The President can issue executive orders or influence agency rulemaking, but fees must still comply with the law and administrative procedure.

2. Statutory Issues

A $100,000 fee is not “cost recovery.” Adjudicating an H-1B petition costs a few hundred dollars, not six figures. That gap would be indefensible under the statute.

Congress has in the past set supplemental fees (e.g., the $4,000 fee on some large H-1B/L-1 employers under Pub. L. 111-230), but those required specific legislation, not presidential action.

3. Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

To raise fees, DHS/USCIS must go through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

An arbitrary $100,000 fee would be vulnerable to challenge as arbitrary and capricious under the APA, since it isn’t tied to costs or statutory purpose.

4. Constitutional Issues

Nondelegation & separation of powers: Only Congress can authorize revenue-raising measures of this scale.

Due process & equal protection: A fee so excessive that it effectively bars access could be challenged as unconstitutional discrimination (though courts usually defer heavily in immigration).

5. International/Trade Issues

The U.S. has obligations under WTO/GATS Mode 4 and treaties with India and others. A $100,000 fee targeted at H-1Bs could be argued as a trade barrier or violation of treaty commitments.

6. Practical Reality

If a president tried this by executive order, lawsuits would be filed immediately by:

Tech companies

Immigration advocacy groups

Possibly foreign governments

Courts would likely strike it down quickly as beyond executive authority and contrary to statute.

✅ Bottom line:

The president cannot legally charge $100,000 per H-1B visa without new legislation from Congress. Any attempt to do so unilaterally would run into statutory, administrative, constitutional, and international law problems, and would almost certainly be invalidated in court.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5777696&forum_id=2#49284946)