Judge blocks Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee

Source: CNBC

Published Mon, Jun 8 2026 1:34 PM EDT Updated 12 Min Ago


A federal judge on Monday vacated President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee for employers’ H-1B visa applications. The visa payment policy violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, Judge Leo Sorokin declared in the ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

The H-1B policy was created in 1990 and is heavily used by U.S. tech giants to bring in high-skilled workers from overseas. The program allows U.S. employers to seek government permission to hire a nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations for up to six years.

Trump implemented the $100,000 fee in a presidential proclamation last September in order to restrict the program, arguing that its misuse has undermined American economic and national security through the “large-scale replacement of American workers.”

Prior to the change, H-1B visa fees had ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 per application, CNBC previously reported. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Sorokin’s ruling.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/08/trump-h1b-visa-fee-blocks.html