A US federal court has struck down former President Donald Trump’s attempt to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, ruling that the measure exceeded presidential authority and lacked approval from Congress.
US Court Strikes Down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
A federal judge in Boston has invalidated the Trump administration’s attempt to impose a steep $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, ruling it an unlawful tax imposed without Congressional authorisation.
The Ruling
US District Judge Leo Sorokin declared the policy void in its entirety, finding that the President lacks the unilateral power to levy taxes under immigration law without explicit delegation from Congress. The challenge was brought by a coalition of 20 Democratic state attorneys general who filed suit after the fee was announced in September.
What the H-1B Programme Covers
The H-1B programme issues 65,000 visas annually for skilled foreign professionals, plus an additional 20,000 for those holding advanced degrees. Visas are typically approved for three to six years, and prior to the contested proclamation, employer filing fees ranged between roughly $2,000 and $5,000.
How the Fee Affected Applications
The dramatic fee hike had an immediate chilling effect. Court filings from the administration itself revealed that by February 15, just 85 employers had paid the new $100,000 fee. Broader data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) showed that properly submitted H-1B registrations for fiscal year 2027 fell by nearly 39% — dropping from around 344,000 the previous year to roughly 212,000.
The Administration’s Justification
Trump’s original proclamation framed the H-1B programme as being systematically exploited by large employers to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour, particularly in STEM fields. The administration argued this had suppressed wages and undermined both economic and national security interests — and that the fee was a legitimate monetary restriction on foreign entry that fell within the President’s immigration powers.
The court rejected this argument outright.
Impact on India
The policy had drawn significant concern from India, which sends a large number of workers through the H-1B pathway. Compounding the anxiety was a wave of tech sector layoffs driven partly by AI adoption, shrinking the job market for foreign nationals already in the US. Many Indian workers, unable to secure new employment within the mandatory 60-day grace period, returned home.
Diplomatic Friction
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar raised the issue directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May. Rubio acknowledged that the immigration overhaul would create friction in the short term but maintained that a reformed system would ultimately benefit all parties. He also stressed that the changes were not directed at India specifically, framing them instead as a response to the broader challenge of illegal immigration that had seen over 20 million undocumented entries into the US in recent years.