A federal judge said in Monday’s ruling that the fee is a tax that Trump does not have the authority to impose.
Published June 8, 2026
A federal judge has canceled a $100,000 fee imposed by President Donald Trump on new H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers, concluding that it constitutes an illegal tax that Congress never authorized.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued a ruling in Boston on Monday in a lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging fees that dramatically increased the cost of obtaining H-1B visas announced by President Trump in September.
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The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually and an additional 20,000 visas approved for three to six years for workers with advanced degrees. Employers seeking visas for foreign workers before President Trump’s proclamation typically paid fees of about $2,000 to $5,000, depending on a variety of factors.
Court filings say the increased fees are hindering H-1B visa applications. As of Feb. 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had received just 85 payments out of every $100,000 in fees, the administration said in a March filing.
They argued that the fee constituted a financial penalty that the president had the lawful authority to impose under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals.
But Sorokin, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, concluded that the fee was not a fine, but a tax that the Republican president lacked authorization to issue.
“Here, the content and application of the $100,000 payment make clear that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called,” he wrote.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
