DHS says 200,000 paid H-1B fast-track fee

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a Senate panel that more than 200,000 H-1B applicants paid $100,000 in fiscal 2026 for faster processing. He said DHS had received about 286,000 applications year to date. Paid applications are processed in about 15 days, compared with roughly 7.5 months for others this year.