SouthernWorldwide.com – A federal judge has overturned former President Donald Trump’s directive that imposed a $100,000 fee on employers seeking H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. The judge ruled that the administration overstepped its authority, as the fee functioned as a tax, a power exclusively held by Congress.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, appointed by President Obama, issued this decision on Monday. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by 20 states in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The lawsuit, which challenged the fee announced by Trump in September, was spearheaded by California. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose department oversees the H-1B visa program, was named as a defendant. Various federal agencies involved in the implementation and enforcement of this policy were also included in the suit.
Sorokin’s ruling invalidates all agency memoranda, guidance documents, website instructions, FAQs, and fee schedules that established and enforced the $100,000 H-1B visa fee. This effectively nullifies the fee requirement.
The judge determined that the $100,000 payment requirement was intended to generate revenue from a legitimate program, thus classifying it as a tax. This contradicts the Trump administration’s argument that it was a penalty. The U.S. Constitution reserves the authority to levy or delegate taxes solely to Congress.
The court filing stated, “Here, the $100,000 payment requirement for all H-1B petitions does not aim to establish that hiring H-1B workers is illegal. The payment is not a penalty… because it is not ‘punishment for an unlawful act or omission.’ Hiring workers pursuant to the H-1B program is plainly lawful.”
Furthermore, the judge ruled that the fee also violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This act mandates that agencies must undergo a “notice-and-comment” period to solicit public feedback before implementing new policies.
Sorokin pointed out that the agencies responsible for implementing and enforcing the fee failed to provide adequate explanations for their rationale. They also did not sufficiently consider alternative options or assess the potential consequences of the policy. The judge found no valid emergency or foreign-affairs justification that would permit them to bypass the APA’s procedural requirements.
“[T]he mere fact that Defendants followed a presidential directive does not grant them free rein to ignore the requirements of the APA,” Sorokin wrote in his ruling.
According to an administration filing in March, as of February 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received 85 payments of the $100,000 fee, totaling $8.5 million.
The H-1B program typically provides 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 set aside for individuals with advanced degrees. These visas are generally valid for three to six years, as reported by Reuters.
Prior to Trump’s proclamation, employers generally paid fees ranging from $960 to $7,595 for these visas, according to court documents.
Trump introduced the substantial fee last September, asserting that the H-1B visa process was contributing to the widespread “replacement of American workers” and had “undermined both our economic and national security.”
This policy change faced significant criticism from business and technology leaders across the industry.
Data from USCIS indicates that between 2024 and mid-2025, Amazon received the highest number of H-1B approvals among major tech companies, with 19,301. Microsoft followed with 9,914 approvals, and Apple secured 8,075.
