Appeals Court Rejects Trump Bid to Reinstate $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

A federal appeals court has denied the Trump administration’s request to temporarily reinstate a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, marking another legal setback for the administration’s immigration policy targeting highly skilled foreign workers.

On Friday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston refused to pause a lower court ruling that blocked the controversial fee. The three-judge panel concluded that the Trump administration had not demonstrated it was likely to succeed in overturning the earlier decision, which found the fee exceeded presidential authority.

The ruling leaves in place a June 8 decision by a federal judge, who sided with a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. The judge determined that the $100,000 charge functioned as an unlawful tax that Congress had never authorized.

President Donald Trump introduced the fee through a September proclamation, dramatically increasing the cost of obtaining new H-1B visas. The H-1B program is widely used by U.S. technology companies and other employers to recruit highly skilled foreign professionals in fields such as engineering, software development, healthcare, and research.

Under the existing H-1B system, employers typically pay between $2,000 and $5,000 in government filing fees, depending on several factors. The program issues 65,000 new visas annually, with an additional 20,000 visas reserved for applicants holding advanced degrees. Approved workers are generally authorized to remain in the United States for three to six years.

When announcing the new fee, Trump argued that the H-1B program had been exploited by employers to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign labor rather than supplement the domestic workforce.

The fee, however, did not apply to foreign nationals already in the United States on student visas, a group that historically represents a significant portion of new H-1B recipients.

Since the policy took effect, relatively few employers have paid the $100,000 fee, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding its legality and the ongoing court challenges.

The White House did not immediately comment on Friday’s appeals court decision, while the administration continues its effort to defend the policy through the legal process.