Homeland’s Mullin Signals Flexibility on $100,000 H-1B Visa Fees

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said his department has flexibility to provide relief in some cases from a new $100,000 H-1B visa fee, offering employers a potentially friendlier message on legal immigration channels amid the Trump administration’s broader crackdown.

Mullin, speaking Tuesday in his first Senate budget hearing since taking over the Department of Homeland Security, also signaled support for making it easier for seasonal foreign workers with H-2B visas to return to the US. That program supplies temporary workers to employers in industries including hospitality, tourism, seafood processing, landscaping and construction.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Photographer: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg

“We do need some flexibility there,” Mullin ...