Federal Court Strikes Down the $100,000 H-1B Fee

A federal court in Massachusetts has invalidated the $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions, finding that the fee is effectively a “tax,” which the President has no authority to impose. Judge Leo T. Sorokin explained that only Congress has the authority to impose and authorize taxes.  As such, the $100,000 fee is unlawful and the federal court vacated it in full, meaning the requirement no longer applies to any employer. 

The requirement originated in a September 2025 presidential proclamation that added $100,000 fee to every new H-1B petition, on top of existing fees that ran from roughly $960 to $3,380. Twenty states sued, arguing that the measure exceeded the President's authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act and encroached on Congress's exclusive power to tax.  The federal court agreed.

The administration argued the fee was a "restriction" on entry within the President's broad authority over admissions. But drawing on the Supreme Court's recent tariff decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the court held that the power to restrict entry is not the power to tax it, and that Congress never clearly delegated any taxing authority here. As the court put it, "Taxes are not 'restrictions.'" The court added that the agency’s imposition of the fee was also unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act because it bypassed the required notice-and-comment rulemaking process and offered no reasoned basis for the sudden and substantial increase in fees.

For employers, the ruling offers firmer ground to avoid payment of the additional fee at least for now. The $100,000 requirement is vacated nationwide and does not apply to new petitions while the ruling stands; petitions filed for individuals already in the U.S., including most extensions and amendments, were generally exempt from the fee. The ruling does not order refunds of fees already paid, so employers who paid should keep their records.

An appeal is likely, and the government may seek a stay that would let USCIS resume collecting the fee in the meantime. As such, the decision is best understood as the current state of the law and not a final resolution.

We will continue to monitor the government's response, any appeal, and developments affecting the H-1B program, and will share updates as they become available. 

This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.