On Sept. 19, the Trump administration issued a proclamation stating that “new H-1B petitions filed at or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 21, 2025 must be accompanied by an additional $100,000 payment as a condition of eligibility.”

The H-1B program permits foreign nationals in “specialty occupations,” requiring “highly specialized knowledge” and the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, to work in the United States for up to three years, extendable to six, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Although the H-1B is technically a non-immigrant classification, the visa can be extended past the six years if an employer sponsors the worker for permanent residency.

The announcement immediately raised a host of unanswered questions. Who would the fee apply to — only new petitions or also renewals? Would universities and nonprofits be exempt, as they are from the lottery system? And how would employers even pay such an enormous sum? 

Two days later, on Sept. 21, the government clarified that the fee would not apply to existing H-1B workers.

On Oct. 20, news outlets reported the federal government clarified that the $100,000 H-1B fee would not apply to petitions “requesting an amendment, change of status, or extension of stay for an alien inside the United States.”

This update implied that international students who recently graduated from U.S. institutions and are sponsored for H-1B status while in the country will not be subject to the $100,000 fee, according to Bloomberg Law.

The Daily took a closer look at the H-1B’s impact in Evanston, based on petition data from USCIS’s H-1B Employer Data Hub for fiscal years 2020 through 2025. 

Evanston in Recent Years

H-1B approvals for new employment have been capped at 65,000 per year since 2005 — although there are an additional 20,000 approvals reserved for those with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions. If applications exceed that number, USCIS uses a lottery system in which petitions are selected for processing. Some employers, such as universities and related non-profit organizations or government research institutions, are not subject to that cap. 

Because the visa is employer-sponsored, applicants must first secure a job offer from a U.S. employer before applying — a process that can be considered lengthy and complex. 

Thus far in FY 2025, Evanston has seen 113 new H-1B approvals and 154 continuation approvals. FY 2024 saw 221 new approvals and 133 continuation approvals. 

Usage by sectors 

Across the US, the H-1B saw 141,207 approvals for new applications for initial employment and  258,196 approved renewals in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.

Since FY 2020, Evanston’s top H-1B sectors have been “Educational Services,” “Health Care and Social Assistance” and “Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.”

By contrast, much of the state’s H-1B activity clusters around Chicago’s finance, tech and professional services firms, with Chicago being the top city of H-1B employers in Illinois. “Professional, Scientific and Technical Services,” “Retail Trade” and “Manufacturing” have taken the lead as top sectors in the state, based on the Daily’s analysis. 

A Closer Look at H-1B Employers

Since the same organization can appear multiple times in the dataset — for example, if petitions are filed under slightly different names or ZIP codes — employers were consolidated using their federal Tax ID numbers. 

For each employer, petition outcomes were summed across four key categories: New Employment Approvals, New Employment Denials, Continuation Approvals and Continuation Denials. ZIP codes were merged into a single field for employers with multiple Evanston locations.

The resulting dataset represents a cleaned, employer-level view of H-1B petition activity in Evanston from FY 2020 to thus far in FY 2025, based on USCIS data.

In 2025, USCIS approved 84 new employee H-1B petitions for Northwestern. According to Inside Higher Ed, U.S. universities made up about 5% of total approved H-1B visas in during the financial year — totaling over 16,000 people.

Based on the number of new approved petitions, Northwestern is one of Evanston’s top employers, followed by Z.S. Associates, a management consulting and technology firm, and Presence Chicago Hospitals Network. NU and Z.S. Associates account for the bulk of H-1B hires — both with over 500 employees since FY 2020.

Between fiscal years 2020 and 2025, Evanston employers filed hundreds of H-1B petitions, reflecting how the city’s workforce continues to draw from international talent.