A U.S. federal judge on November 22 struck down the $100,000 fee that President Donald Trump had imposed on new H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers. In the ruling, Judge Leo Sorokin of the federal court in Boston concluded that the fee constituted an illegal tax that Congress never authorized the president to impose.
The decision came in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging the fee announced by Trump in September 2020, which significantly increased the cost of applying for an H-1B visa.
The H-1B visa program provides 65,000 visas annually, plus an additional 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees. Visas are valid for three to six years. Before Trump’s executive order, employers typically paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees, depending on various factors.
According to court documents, the fee hike reduced the number of H-1B visa applications. As of February 15, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received only 85 payments of the $100,000 fee, the federal government stated in a March filing.
The Trump administration argued the fee constituted a financial penalty the president had legal authority to impose under federal immigration law to restrict entry for certain foreign nationals. However, Judge Sorokin, appointed by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, concluded the fee was not a penalty but a tax that the Republican president lacked congressional authorization to impose.
“Here, the substance and application of the $100,000 payment demonstrate it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called,” the judge wrote in the ruling.
The White House did not immediately comment on the decision.
