Judge rules Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee unlawful

A federal judge in Boston has declared unlawful a $100,000 fee that former U.S. President Donald Trump had imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued the ruling, stating that the fee constituted an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized. The decision came in response to a lawsuit initiated by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. They challenged the fee, which Trump had announced in September, significantly increasing the cost associated with obtaining H-1B visas. The administration had argued the fee was a monetary penalty the president had authority to impose, but Sorokin concluded it was a tax for which the Republican president lacked authorization. The H-1B program typically offers 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees. Employers seeking a visa for a foreign worker before Trump's proclamation typically paid about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees. The increase in fees discouraged requests, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services having received only 85 payments of the $100,000 fee as of February 15.