Judge strikes down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee
What’s next: The Trump administration plans to appeal after the ruling called the fee an unauthorized tax.
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday vacated President Donald Trump’s policy requiring employers to pay $100,000 for H-1B visa applications, ruling that the measure violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin sided with 20 states that sued in December, finding the fee functioned as a tax that Congress had not authorized the executive branch to impose. Trump created the fee in a September proclamation aimed at restricting the high-skilled worker visa program. Before that change, H-1B application fees generally ranged from about $2,000 to $5,000. The administration said it will appeal. The H-1B program, created in 1990, is widely used by U.S. technology companies to hire specialized foreign workers for jobs that can last up to six years.