That fee has been $10 all along—see this from last year [0]. I don't know much about this process, but the thousands of dollars must be coming from something else—probably some combination of other government fees and attorney bills.
No. You previously had to fill the entire H1B petition and pay full fees (including lawyer fees to prepare the petition) just to enter the H1B lottery. Your fees get refunded if you do not get selected in the lottery. You're still out lawyer fees though.
The $10 fee to enter your name and later fill the entire petition is a fairly recent change
Fair, but this isn't a new change this year. If the catastrophe that you say will happen was going to happen, we should already be seeing it since at least 2020.
The $10 fee to enter your name and later fill the entire petition is a fairly recent change
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/08/2019-24...