A federal judge on Monday struck down the $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, ruling that President Donald Trump didn’t have the authority to impose a tax on the visa program for highly skilled workers.
Trump issued a proclamation in September imposing the fee on new petitions for H-1B visas, raising concerns among healthcare providers who said their access to critical care workers could be threatened.
The federal H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for specialized jobs, typically for up to six years with an extension. Hospitals and medical groups rely on the program to stem persistent workforce shortages. In fiscal year 2024, healthcare received nearly 8,500 new foreign workers through the program, according to an analysis from the Washington Post.
To defend the fee policy, the Trump administration has invoked the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to impose restrictions on noncitizens entering the U.S. Federal officials argued in court documents that the fee was a “regulatory payment” authorized by the statute.
However, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin vacated the policy and declared it unlawful.
“The substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is a tax, regardless of what the payment is called,” Sorokin said.
The power to levy federal taxes lies with Congress, and the legislative branch did not delegate that authority to Trump in this case, he said.
“President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in an emailed statement Monday. “The Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal.”
The fee had dramatically increased the cost of new H-1B petitions, which typically ran between $2,000 and $5,000 before the policy, according to the American Immigration Council. All colleges, regardless of size, didn’t want to pay the fee, Joshua Wildes, associate attorney at immigration law firm Wildes & Weinberg, told Higher Ed Dive last year.
“The smaller ones that don’t have the funds, they simply cannot afford it. The bigger ones that do have the funds, they don’t want to do it, because it’s a lot of money,” he said.
Indeed, few employers paid the fee. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received only 85 $100,000 payments for the new fee through mid-February, according to court filings.
Sorokin’s ruling marks a victory for the 20 Democratic attorneys general who filed a lawsuit over the fee. Their lawsuit was one of at least three brought against the $100,000 fee.
In another legal challenge brought by the Association of American Universities and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a federal judge ruled in December that Trump didn’t overstep his authority when imposing the fee. The groups appealed the decision later that month.
The other case — brought by a coalition of unions and industry groups, including the American Association of University Professors — is also ongoing.
The American Medical Association said in a Monday statement that it applauded the court’s decision to block the visa fees.
“At a time when communities across the country face physician shortages and growing barriers to care, we should be removing obstacles — not creating new ones — to attract talented physicians and other highly skilled professionals,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the AMA, said.
Sydney Halleman from Healthcare Dive contributed reporting.
