A federal judge on Monday struck down a $100,000 fee imposed by President Donald Trump on new H-1B visa applications, ruling that the charge amounted to an unlawful tax that was never authorized by Congress.
According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued the ruling in a lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging the fee, which Trump announced in September 2025 and which sharply increased the cost of hiring highly skilled foreign workers through the H-1B program.
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The H-1B program issues 65,000 visas each year, along with an additional 20,000 visas for workers holding advanced degrees. Before Trump’s proclamation, employers typically paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees to sponsor an H-1B worker.
According to court filings, the steep increase discouraged visa applications. As of Feb. 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had received only 85 payments of the $100,000 fee, the administration said in a March filing.
In a separate case before a federal court in California, Justice Department lawyer Tiberius Davis argued that the low number of participants showed the fee was not intended to generate revenue, saying, “The small number of fee payers goes to show it’s not a tax because it’s not raising revenue.”
Plaintiffs challenging the fee, including nurse recruitment firm Global Nurse Force, contended that the charge effectively prices smaller employers out of the H-1B program and exceeds the government’s authority. They argued that Congress authorized immigration fees only to recover administrative costs, not to create financial barriers for employers.
READ: Only 70 employers paid Trump’s $100K H-1B fee, government tells court (February 27, 2026)
The Trump administration argued that the fee was a lawful penalty intended to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals under federal immigration law. Sorokin disagreed, finding that the payment functioned as a tax rather than a penalty.
“Here, the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called,” Sorokin wrote in his decision.
The ruling comes as employers continue to grapple with uncertainty surrounding the H-1B program and broader U.S. immigration policies.