Full Breakdown
Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee Blocked by Second Federal Judge
By Drooid · · How we work
Court Ruling
On September 30, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, issued an injunction that blocks the implementation of the $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas. Gilliam found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department failed to follow the required rule-making procedures before imposing the fee. The injunction remains in effect while a lawsuit filed in October by a coalition of unions, employers and nonprofits proceeds.
Legal Background
The fee was originally set by President Donald Trump and was slated to expire on September 21. Trump later extended it for an additional year. A separate federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the fee in June, and a Boston appeals court declined to pause that decision in July. In August, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a permanent fee of about $103,000, which is expected to face further litigation.
Policy Context
Before the Trump order, typical H-1B filing costs ranged from $2,000 to $5,000. President Trump argued that businesses had abused the H-1B program and displaced American workers with cheaper foreign labor, invoking presidential authority under federal immigration law to restrict entry of “detrimental” foreign nationals. The administration also announced enhanced vetting of applicants and a new selection process intended to favor higher-skill, higher-pay workers.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Today’s decision ... protects a system that was thrown into chaos overnight,” — Steve Bressler, a lawyer with the group