Over two lakh applicants paid $100,000 for H-1B visas: DHS Secretary Mullin

Key points

• More than two lakh applicants opted to pay $100,000 for their H-1B visas to work in the U.S. in the fiscal year 2026, Markwayne Mullin, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said in Washington.
• Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday (June 2, 2026), Mr. Mullin said the DHS had received about 2.86 lakh H-1B applications in the fiscal year 2026. “We had 286,000 applicants a year to date for the H-1B visas, out of those, over 200,000 of them paid USD 100,000 to be able to come in because it allows us to process them in a little bit faster of a manner,” Mr. Mullin said in response to a question by U.S. Senator Susan Collins on the shortage of doctors in rural parts of the country.
• Mullin said applicants paying $100,000 get their papers processed in about 15 days and it takes about 7.5 months to process...