Immigration
Federal Judge Blocks Trump's $100K Fee on New H-1B Visas
The $100,000 payment is in reality a tax, not an immigration penalty, so president lacks authority to impose it, federal Judge Leo T. Sorokin wrote. Twenty states sued to overturn the fee, claiming it would impede employers' ability to hire teachers and educational and medical staff.
A federal district court judge in Boston has short-circuited one of the Trump administration's recent efforts to restrict legal immigration—ruling that the President Donald Trump's imposition by proclamation of a $100,000 fee for any new H-1B visa—to be paid by employers—violates federal law.
Because the $100,000 payment is, in reality, a tax, not an immigration penalty, the president lacks authority to impose it, Judge Leo T. Sorokin wrote.
Twenty states had sued to overturn the fee, claiming it would impede employers' ability to hire teachers and educational and medical staff. Engineering firms are heavy users of H-1B visas, but the new fee, along with other measures taken by the administration, threatened to choke off a once-reliable source of new recruits.
The administration has indicated it would appeal the decision, according to published reports. Government lawyers had argued that under federal law and regulations, immigration and national security are within the regulatory authority of a president and other elected officials.
But rather than being a fee related to immigration, the "proclamation’s payment requirement amounts to a tax, which exceeds the scope of the president’s discretionary authority under the [Immigration and Naturalization Act]," wrote Sorokin.
The American Council of Engineering Cos. had sought an industry exception from the $100,000 fee and has opposed other measures the administration has taken to discourage H-1B visas.
Employers in the past have been able to hire foreign nationals holding H-1B visas to fill vacancies.
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Under rules for their use, employers must state that they were unable to fill a position with a non-immigrant. Federal rules allow 85,000 new H-1B visas each year, 20,000 of which are for higher-paid employees.
About 40,000 of the half million H-1B visa holders in the U.S. work in architecture and engineering, according to data cited by ACEC.
After issuing the fee proclamation, the administration in February issued new rules changing selection criteria for visas to be granted—from a random process to one weighted to favor higher-paid employees. That change applies to the 2027 H-1B cap registration season.
Last year, ACEC opposed the change, noting that it was expected to cut the number or engineering and architecture-related granted visas by 48,000.
Despite the fact that the average annual pay for a civil engineer in 2024 was $100,000, ACEC argued, when the rule change was proposed, that the new weighting method would tip the selection process in favor of international technology companies that could afford to pay higher salaries for those H-1B visa professsionals.
