US court rules Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee as 'unlawful': What comes next?

In a major blow for the Donald Trump administration, a federal judge on Monday (local time) struck down the controversial $100,000 fee imposed on new H-1B visa applications for highly skilled foreign workers.

This comes as the US District Court in Massachusetts was hearing a December 2025 lawsuit filed by the attorney generals of 20 states and other top officials against the visa fee.

The lawsuit disputed the administration's claim that the president had the authority to impose the fee hike to restrict certain foreign individuals under federal immigration ​law.

Judge Leo Sorokin on Monday agreed with the plaintiffs that the visa fee was "in substance and application" a tax, regardless of its name.

Noting that only Congress had the power to impose such taxes, and that it had also not delegated that power to the executive branch, Judge Sorokin added that the fee was a violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution.

This is expected to provide major relief for a number of countries, especially India, which remains the largest source of H-1B holders across professions such as IT, healthcare, academia, and finance.

According to court filings, the revised H-1B fee—which went up from about $2,000-5,000 to $100,000—had already begun impacting immigration applications, with only 85 payments of the visa fee received by mid-February.

This indicates that many employers had either postponed hiring or had stopped filing new applications altogether.

The Trump administration, however, had seen this reduction as a strategic win for its policy of reducing reliance on foreign labour.

“The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told CNBC after the Monday ruling.

While the Monday ruling has offered visa applicants adn employers temporary relief, it is yet to be seen whether Judge Sorokin's ruling will remain.

Though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not yet made a statement on the ruling, Rogers' comments indicate that the administration is likely to appeal against the ruling. It can also appeal for the ruling to be stayed.