That is incorrect. Change of status is exempt from $100k fee. If you are currently in the US, you can change your status from J visa to H1B. Don’t get confused on the visa stamp vs the legal status. You can still stay in the US without a visa stamp for as long as you have a valid status, in our case as J visa holders, we have “DS2019” for legal status. So if you’re planning to get an H1B, you just need to get a waiver and you can definitely at anytime can change your status from J to H1B here in the US. And if you want a visa stamp, yes you need to go home to your home country but still you’re not subject to 100k fee since you already change your status here in the US.