US court strikes down Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee as illegal

A federal district court has ruled that the Donald Trump administration's move to raise the H-1B skilled worker visa application fee to $100,000 was unlawful.

Judge Leo Sorokin of the federal court in Massachusetts ruled Monday that the $100,000 fee constitutes an illegal tax never approved by Congress, siding with attorneys general from 20 Democratic-led states, including California, who had sued to have the fee overturned, according to Reuters.

"Looking at the nature and application of the $100,000 payment, whatever it is called, it is a tax," Sorokin wrote in his ruling.

The H-1B visa covers specialized occupations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Annual issuances are capped at 85,000 through a lottery system. Holders are initially allowed a three-year stay, with extensions available and a path to permanent residency.

Trump raised the H-1B fee to $100,000 last September — 100 times the previous $1,000 rate — drawing sharp criticism from industries that rely on the visa to hire skilled foreign workers. The Trump administration has long maintained that companies use H-1B visas, which are disproportionately held by workers from China and India, to bring in cheap foreign labor at the expense of American jobs.

Many companies, however, argue that the H-1B program is essential to filling shortages of qualified American workers in certain fields.

Court filings in the case show that H-1B applications dropped sharply after the fee increase took effect. As of Feb. 15, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had received just 85 applications under the $100,000 fee structure.