On 8 June, a US federal judge in Boston struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, ruling it an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized. US District Judge Leo Sorokin vacated the policy, siding with the Attorneys General of 20 states who argued that the administration overstepped its constitutional boundaries and violated the Administrative Procedure Act by attempting to implement a tax on H-1B petitions without Congressional approval.

The Trump administration reportedly plans an appeal. The coalition of 20 U.S. state Attorneys General who filed the lawsuit included officials from major, highly populated states reliant on skilled foreign talent. The lawsuit was spearheaded by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. They were joined by attorneys-general from 18 other states.

Judge Sorokin’s ruling vacated the H1B Visa $100,000 payment requirement nationwide, blocking the policy’s enforcement. It is a major win for the United States itself because it safeguards American innovation, economic growth, and the constitutional separation of powers. By vacating this exorbitant fee – which functioned as an unauthorized executive tax bypassing Congress – Judge Sorokin’s ruling prevents critical staffing shortages across American tech hubs, state-funded medical systems, and public universities.

Rather than choking off global talent and driving cutting-edge research and software development overseas, the decision allows U.S. employers to continue recruiting the world’s top specialized minds in fields like artificial intelligence. Ultimately, this ruling preserves the country’s global competitiveness, keeps domestic businesses thriving, and reinforces the legal principle that major economic mandates must be authorized by lawmakers, not by executive decree.

The U.S. tech industry has broadly celebrated the decision to strike down the Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B visa application fee. The industry........

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