A US judge has invalidated Donald Trump’s $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, ruling it an unlawful tax that violated federal administrative law and the constitution.
US district judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the 42-page ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas.. The ruling vacated the sweeping fee, which was a 20-to-50 fold increase on existing rates, and the Trump administration is widely expected to appeal.
In his ruling, Sorokin’s found that the fee amounted to a tax, rather than a regulatory restriction. Since the constitution gives Congress, not the president, the exclusive power to levy taxes, Trump lacked the authority to impose it.
Sorokin cited the 2026 supreme court case Learning Resources v Trump, which unraveled a key pillar of Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy, for his decision.
The Trump administration had leaned on the Immigration and Nationality Act to push the tax, but this legislation did not include the power to tax.
Trump imposed the charge last September via presidential proclamation, arguing the H-1B program had enabled the “large-scale replacement of American workers”.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick claimed at the time that major tech companies were “on board” urging firms to “train Americans” rather than hire from abroad.
But the ruling hands a significant reprieve to Silicon Valley, which depends on the program more than any other sector of the US economy. Amazon alone had more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved in the first half of 2025, with Microsoft and Meta each exceeding 5,000.
The program was created in 1990 and permits US employers to hire skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations for up to six years, with 65,000 visas issued annually plus 20,000 for advanced-degree holders. Roughly two-thirds of H-1B positions are computer-related.
Reuters contributed reporting
