Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee was unlawful, finding that the policy imposed a tax without congressional authorization and violated federal rulemaking requirements.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

A federal judge on June 8 blocked President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, ruling that the administration lacked legal authority to impose the charge on petitions for specialty foreign workers.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin said in a 42-page decision that the policy “imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress.”

The ruling found that while the president has authority to restrict the entry of noncitizens into the United States, the Constitution gives Congress the power to tax. Sorokin concluded that federal law did not delegate that taxing power to the president for the H-1B fee.

The judge also found that the policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it was issued without giving the public an opportunity to comment before it took effect. Sorokin ordered federal officials to vacate the policy in full.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The decision came in a lawsuit brought by Massachusetts and 19 other states challenging the fee. Trump announced the $100,000 charge in September, describing it as a policy intended to reduce taxes and bring better people into the country.

H-1B visas are used for specialty foreign workers. Before Trump’s policy, fees generally ranged from $2,000 to $5,000. The challenged policy raised the charge to $100,000.

The ruling creates a conflict with an earlier decision from late 2025, when a different judge upheld the fee and found that Trump had authority to increase it. An appeal remains pending in that case.

Sorokin’s order, however, vacates the policy in its entirety, dealing a legal setback to one of the administration’s major immigration-related fee policies and setting up further court fights over the limits of presidential authority on visa charges.