By TRH World Desk
Federal Judge Voids Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee, Calling It an Unauthorized Tax
New Delhi, June 9, 2026 — A federal judge in Boston dealt a significant blow to the Trump administration Monday, striking down the president’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers and declaring the policy an unlawful tax imposed without congressional authority.
US District Court Judge Leo Sorokin sided with 20 states and struck down the visa policy, concluding that the executive branch exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations. In a 42-page ruling, Sorokin wrote: “The President has no authority to levy a tax unless such a power is delegated by Congress through statute,” reported PBS News, while quoting from the judgment.
Trump implemented the $100,000 fee in a presidential proclamation last September, arguing that the H-1B visa program was being misused and undermining US economic and national security through the “large-scale replacement of American workers.”
The judge’s reasoning drew directly from a recent Supreme Court precedent. Sorokin cited the Supreme Court’s February ruling striking down Trump’s sweeping tariffs he pursued under a law meant for use in national emergencies, where the high court ruled that tariffs assessed by the Department of Homeland Security “amount to taxes for the purposes of the Constitution’s Taxing Clause.”
Applying the same logic to the visa fee, Sorokin, reported Al Jazeera, concluded that the fee was not a penalty but a tax that the Republican president lacked any authorization from Congress to issue: “Here, the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called.”
The 20-state coalition argued the fee was causing immediate harm across public institutions. According to the complaint, reported the Newsweek, the measure threatened to exacerbate teacher shortages in public schools, undermine staffing at universities and research institutions, and reduce access to healthcare by limiting foreign medical workers.
States said those impacts would cause “cascading harm,” particularly to public systems reliant on skilled foreign labour.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the lead plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling. “Every day, thousands of people with H-1B visas serve New Yorkers as doctors, teachers, and other skilled workers,” CNBC quoted James, adding: “Today a court put an end to this administration’s illegal attempt to destroy this critical program and the many jobs it makes possible.”
The administration immediately pushed back. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Newsweek: “We disagree with this blatant judicial activism dismantling President Trump’s historic efforts for immigration reform.” The Trump administration said it plans to appeal.
The ruling contradicts an earlier federal court decision in Washington, D.C., that denied the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s request to strike down the visa fee, setting up the possibility of divided rulings across three appellate court circuits.
As of February 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had received just 85 payments of the $100,000 fee — a figure the administration cited in a March court filing as evidence that the increase had sharply discouraged H-1B visa requests, reported PBS News.
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