Federal judge strikes down Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee

A federal judge in Boston struck down President Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee Monday, ruling the administration imposed an unauthorized tax on skilled-worker petitions without the required congressional approval.

The decision invalidates a fee nearly 465 times the previous $215 charge, dealing a significant legal setback to the administration's effort to curtail a program that supports approximately 700,000 workers in technology, healthcare and education industries across the United States.

U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the $100,000 fee — announced by Trump in September 2025 and put into effect within 24 hours — violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Twenty states had filed suit to challenge the policy, arguing it hampered their ability to hire educators, staff public universities and recruit medical workers.

"The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress," Sorokin wrote, according to The Korea Times. The ruling contradicts an earlier federal court decision that had upheld the fee.

The Trump administration defended the measure as a worker-protection policy. "To take advantage of artificially low labor costs incentivized by the program, companies close their IT divisions, fire their American staff, and outsource IT jobs to lower-paid foreign workers," the White House said in its proclamation last year, The Korea Times reported.

H-1B visas, created by the 1990 Immigration Act for nonimmigrant skilled workers, carry an annual cap of 65,000 new approvals plus 20,000 additional slots for U.S. master's degree holders. The program currently covers roughly 700,000 visa holders and 500,000 dependents in the United States, according to The Korea Times.

At least 60 percent of H-1B visas approved since 2012 went to computer-related jobs, according to Pew Research Center. A 2020 report by the Economic Policy Institute found that 60 percent of H-1B positions certified by the U.S. Labor Department carried wages below the median for their occupation. Nearly three-quarters of 2023 H-1B applicants came from India, The Korea Times noted.

Few companies had been willing to absorb the $100,000 charge since its abrupt rollout, The Korea Times reported. The previous fee consisted of a $215 application charge plus processing costs.

The ruling is the latest legal blow to the administration's immigration enforcement agenda. Legal experts expect the Justice Department to appeal the Boston decision, prolonging uncertainty for employers and visa holders upended by last year's sudden fee increase.