Trump's $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee is Unlawful, US Judge Rules

Boston: A federal judge on Monday struck down a $100,000 fee that U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, concluding that it ‌constituted an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general challenging a fee Trump announced in September that dramatically raised the cost of obtaining H-1B visas.

The ⁠H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years. Employers seeking a visa for a foreign worker before Trump's proclamation typically paid about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees depending on various factors.

The increase in fees has discouraged H-1B visa requests, according to court filings. As of February 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had received just 85 ‌payments ⁠of the $100,000 fee, the administration said in a March filing.

The administration argued that the fee constituted a monetary penalty that the president had lawful authority to impose under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of ⁠certain foreign nationals.

But Sorokin, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, concluded that the fee was not a penalty but a tax that ⁠the Republican president lacked any authorization from Congress to issue.

"Here, the substance and application of the $100,000 payment reveal that it is ⁠a tax, regardless of what the payment is called," he wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.