Federal judge strikes down Trump's $100K H-1B visa fee as unlawful tax

A federal judge in Massachusetts vacated the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, ruling that the policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution. Judge Leo Sorokin found the administration failed to justify the charge and concluded it functioned as a tax rather than a regulatory fee, which the executive branch lacks authority to impose unilaterally.

The ruling carries outsized weight in Alaska, where 341 of 573 international teachers work under H-1B visas and rural districts depend on foreign-recruited educators for 50 to 80 percent of their teaching staff. Districts already spend $6,000 to $12,000 per teacher on recruitment and sponsorship, and the additional six-figure fee — a 5,000 percent increase in some cases — would have effectively ended the program for K-12 employers. The state legislature unanimously passed a resolution in May urging an exemption for educators.

Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan had pressed DHS for a carve-out and backed S.4087, a bill exempting public school employees from the non-processing fees. Murkowski said she will continue pursuing a permanent legislative fix to insulate school hiring from further legal swings, given the administration is likely to appeal.