American judge blocks Trump's visa fee plan of $100,000

When the decision on setting up the fee was announced through a presidential announcement in September 2025, it was met with widespread reactions and national protests, including companies that were concerned about what it meant to their affected employees, Telegrafi broadcasts.

At the time, Leon Rodriguez, a partner in the legal firm Seyfarth who was director of US State and Migration Services in the Obama administration, said that despite the White House's efforts to ensure critics that the fee would not apply to existing visa holders, "ka still certain people recommending their H-1B employees not to travel now until it is a little more clear".

US District Judge Leo Sorokin decided that politics exceeded executive authority by bypassing Congress.

The proposed tariff aimed at applications for the H-1B visa programme, which allows American businesses to employ foreign professionals in specialised areas.

Under the decision, such a tax requires clear legislative approval by lawmakers, stressing the constitutional limits of presidential power.

The court ruling represents an important victory for several American states that initiated the legal challenge.

The plaintiffs argued that the high rate would severely undermine the recruit to public entities, such as state-funded universities and medical institutions, which rely on international expertise.

In his decision, Judge Sorokin relied on two previous rulings of the Supreme Court.

One of these cases backed the Cohesive Care Act by determining its individual mandate as a tax, while a recent decision rejected executive efforts to implement broad tariffs without congressional authorization.

The decision adds to a set of legal challenges facing the administration's economic policy. Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for comments on the matter.

The White House showed its intention to challenge the decision.

"Program H-1B has been abused for decades and President Trump finally took action to regulate it", White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said, as reported by Politico.

A federal judge in Washington already supported an almost identical order, and the administration is convinced that this order will be annulled on appeal", he added.

Sorokin's decision differs from a decision issued six months ago by a federal judge in Washington, DC, which had supported a similar executive move.

However, this earlier ruling was made before a Supreme Court ruling in February that clarified executive restrictions on taxation, which affected Soroc's reasoning on the current case.

Founded in its current form in 1990, the H-1B visa programme limits annual concessions to 85,000.

Of these, 20,000 are reserved for applicants holding advanced diplomas, while higher education institutions and nonprofit research organisations remain excluded from the annual limit.

The programme has faced constant criticism from Donald Trump, who argues it undermines employment opportunities for domestic workers.

"Abusions with the H-1B programme pose a threat to national security by discourageing Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology, jeopardising the American leadership in these fields", Trump said earlier. /Telegraphy/