The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on July 24, 2026 denied the federal government’s motion to stay a lower-court decision that struck down the $100,000 payment requirement attached to certain H-1B petitions. The practical result: USCIS is prohibited from enforcing or collecting the fee while the appeal moves forward, and immigration practitioners now expect no final appellate decision on the merits until sometime in 2027.
The fee originated in a September 2025 presidential proclamation that required a $100,000 payment to accompany H-1B petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries located outside the United States. In June 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the policy in State of California v. Mullin, a challenge brought by a coalition of 20 states. The district court held that the proclamation exceeded the authority Congress granted the executive branch, finding that no provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act references the imposition of the kind of payment requirement at issue.
The states argued the fee inflicted concrete harm on public universities, school districts, and healthcare systems that depend on H-1B workers — institutions for which a six-figure per-petition surcharge would be prohibitive. In seeking an emergency stay, the government had to show it was likely to succeed on appeal. The First Circuit found it had not made that showing, one of the most important requirements for emergency relief, and denied the stay.
DHS responded that it strongly disagrees with the order but will comply while it considers next steps, adding that it still intends to collect the payment if the vacatur is later lifted. That caveat matters: the current relief is procedural, not final. Employers filing H-1B petitions today are not required to pay, but the underlying appeal remains live, and a reversal in 2027 could revive the question of whether petitions filed during this window carry any exposure.
For H-1B workers and their employers, the immediate takeaway is straightforward. Petitions for beneficiaries abroad — including consular-notification cases and change-of-status filings that would have triggered the proclamation — proceed under the ordinary fee schedule. Anyone who paid the fee before it was vacated should discuss refund posture with counsel. And because the litigation is unresolved, employers planning multi-year H-1B strategies should treat the current fee-free environment as provisional rather than permanent.
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Source: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (No. 26-1699)