It was $103,265.

Large numbers travel well. Qualifications have poor knees.

The Department of Homeland Security proposed charging that amount for “all H-1B cap-subject petitions.” The agency also said the fee would apply “not to all H-1B petitions such as cap-exempt filings.” It estimated 85,000 cap-subject receipts each year. That is what the Federal Register notice and official government PDF say.

The notice was a proposed rule. Its public comment period was scheduled to close September 24. It gave no effective date.

The proper verb was therefore would. Not does.

Then the proposal met the headline.

A CNN Newsource report published by WHSV announced a proposed “$103,000 fee for H-1B visas.” Its short body again referred broadly to a “$103,265 fee for H-1B visas.” It did not supply the cap-subject limitation.

Other reports put the missing boundary farther down.

A Fox-distributed headline referred to a price tag for “new H-1B visas,” but its body immediately identified cap-subject petitions and later discussed exclusions.

A Business Insider page description said the fee was for “all new H-1B applications.” Its article supplied the narrower category.

Inside Higher Ed said in its opening that new H-1B petitions “will have to pay” the fee. Its next paragraph restored the cap-subject scope and gave examples of cap-exempt institutions.

These reports did not all do the same thing. Several gave readers the necessary facts in the body. CNN’s short report did not.

But the missing words were not decorative.

Klasko Immigration Law Partners described the proposal as limited to annual-lottery, cap-subject petitions. Its analysis said the proposal would not cover qualifying cap-exempt institutional filings or transfers for people already holding H-1B status. Examples of cap-exempt contexts include certain higher-education institutions, affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations.

Those are filing-specific examples. They are not blanket exclusions for every petition involving such an employer or every current H-1B worker. Immigration law has retained some of its traditional interest in making nouns dangerous.

The supported account is plain:

DHS proposed a $103,265 fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions. It did not propose that fee for every H-1B petition. As of September 5, DHS had not issued a final rule or established an effective date, and the public comment period remained open.

This version is longer than a headline.

It is also the size of the truth.