A federal court has dealt a major blow to one of the most controversial immigration measures of the past year. On June 8, 2026, U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the District of Massachusetts struck down the $100,000 fee the administration had imposed on certain new H-1B petitions, ruling that it amounted to an unauthorized tax rather than a lawful regulatory fee.
The fee originated with a September 19, 2025 Presidential Proclamation, which required employers to pay $100,000 when petitioning for certain new H-1B workers. The administration framed it as a way to discourage the displacement of American workers. A coalition of 20 states challenged the measure, and Judge Sorokin agreed with them — finding that the government’s swift rollout of the fee violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and that the charge exceeded the executive branch’s authority to set fees.
Crucially, the legal picture is now split. A separate federal judge in Washington, D.C. upheld the same fee, concluding it fell within the president’s broad immigration powers. With two federal courts reaching opposite conclusions, the dispute is widely expected to head to an expedited appeal — and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court.
For employers and H-1B workers, the takeaway is caution rather than celebration. The Massachusetts ruling vacates the fee, but the conflicting D.C. decision and likely appeals mean the requirement could be reinstated. Petitions already in process should not assume the fee is permanently gone, and employers planning new filings should monitor the litigation closely before relying on the ruling.
The episode underscores how quickly the cost and rules of skilled-worker immigration can change — and why applicants increasingly look to self-petition routes like the EB-2 NIW and EB-1A, which do not depend on employer sponsorship or these contested fees.
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Source: U.S. District Court, D. Mass. (lead via r/immigration)