A federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers on Monday, finding the charge was an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin issued the 42-page ruling in Boston, in California et al. v. Trump, on a lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. Sorokin, an Obama appointee, ruled the $100,000 charge was a tax — not a penalty — and that the administration lacked any congressional authorization to levy it in the immigration sphere.
He also drew on the logic of the Supreme Court’s February ruling striking down Trump’s emergency tariffs. Congress had not delegated the power to tax to the president under immigration law, either.
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The fee, announced via presidential proclamation in September 2025, raised the cost of new H-1B applications from a prior range of roughly $2,000 to $5,000 to $100,000. The program issues 65,000 visas annually, plus 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, and is widely used by tech companies, hospitals, and universities.
Read: US Officials Give Conflicting Details on New $100K H-1B Visa Fee
The fee had a significant chilling effect — as of February 15, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had received just 85 payments at the new rate, according to a March court filing.
The Department of Homeland Security called the ruling “blatant judicial activism.” The White House said it was confident the decision would be reversed and announced plans to appeal.
In December 2025, DC District Judge Beryl Howell — also an Obama appointee — rejected a separate challenge by the US Chamber of Commerce, upholding the fee under the president’s broad authority to restrict the entry of foreign nationals. That case is on appeal.
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