A federal judge ruled on Monday that President Donald Trump’s order to impose a $100,000 fee on businesses for H-1B visa applications was “unlawful” and ordered it to be “vacated in its entirety,” as flagged by Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
First unveiled last year, Trump’s plan to impose the hefty fee was met with immediate scrutiny from corporate leaders, many of whom rely on cheap foreign labor to maximize profits. The plan proved unsuccessful during its first few months, generating a net loss in revenue for the federal government.
In his ruling, District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts described the fee as an “unauthorized tax on H-1B petitions,” despite the Trump administration’s claims to the contrary.
“An obvious purpose of the Policy is to raise revenue – it charges a substantial fee for all H-1B petitions. That total revenue from H-1B petitions has declined does not mean raising revenue was not a purpose of the Policy; rather, it means that such a purpose was not achieved. Purpose and effect are different,” the ruling reads.
“Moreover, every $100,000 payment made pursuant to the Policy does raise revenue. That is indisputable. No legal authority suggests that a payment requirement qualifies as a tax only if it increases the total revenue generated from that particular tax.”
JUST IN: A federal judge has ruled Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is an unauthorized tax on businesses and must be vacated. https://t.co/bQXFTaiMmK pic.twitter.com/g5HTy9Cu0X — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 8, 2026
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