Trump $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee Faces Court Challenge Over Legality
A major legal challenge has been mounted against Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee as US district judges in California and Massachusetts have declared that the administration does not have the power to levy the price. Court rulings put fee enforcement on hold affording reprieve to Indian IT firms.
Two US district court decisions have effectively put an end to President Trump's announcement, which he made a year ago, that every new H-1B visa application would be subject to a $100,000 charge. A coalition of nurses and twenty US solicitors general representing nearly half of the states are at the centre of the two lawsuits that are delaying the presidential declaration.
Indian tech giants that use H-1B visas to bring engineers to the US for short stints in specialist fields would be pleased to hear that Trump's announcement has been shelved. District judges in California and Massachusetts, respectively, have ruled that the Trump administration exceeded its authority to issue the presidential proclamation that has been in the works for the past 10 months. As a result, the proclamation has been temporarily blocked.
Trump H-1B Visa Fee a Major Roadblock for Indian IT Firms
Approval of 57,000 additional H-1B visas for Indian nationals occurred last year, a decrease of 28% compared to FY24. India was the recipient of nearly half of all new H-1B approvals in the previous fiscal year. The fiscal year for the United States government runs from October to September. In response to Trump's crackdown on H-1B visa holders, domestic tech service providers have reduced the number of individuals they send on these visas.
Since the United States is their most lucrative market, contributing between one-third and half of their revenue, this employment restriction is anticipated to impact the country's $300 billion technology sector. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, and Cognisant Technology Solutions Corp. are among the top ten recipients of H-1B visas, which allow executives from these companies to work with clients in the United States.
Companies are cutting back on staff as they face challenges from AI and questions about the future of IT services. Just one week prior to this most recent decision, a consortium headed by a nurse staffing agency in California prevailed in a district court case in California that had challenged Trump's proclamation.
Why Courts Turned Down Trump’s H-1B Visa Fee?
In a case that was presented on 30 September and heard on 3 October 2025, Judge Haywood Gilliam handed down a ruling in favour of five organisations spearheaded by Global Nurse Force. According to the court's ruling, US agencies neglected to solicit public feedback. Also, these organisations failed to assess how the changes would affect small companies, didn't look into potential substitutes, and paid no attention to how dependent employers were on the current system. In order to prevent the rules used to collect the $100,000 H-1B fee from being enforced, Gilliam issued an interim injunction.
In addition, the judge pointed out that until the agencies revise the regulations, the charge will not be enforceable under the 2025 proclamation or its 2026 extension. On September 19, 2025, Trump issued an executive order imposing a $100,000 charge on all new H-1B petitions, claiming that the programme was being misused. Without making any major adjustments, he extended it by one year to September 21, 2027, on September 18, 2027.
“The Agency Defendants did not simply interpret the Proclamation but set their own criteria for administering the fee and determining whether to grant exceptions from it." (Judge Gilliam's judgement dated 30 September." "The failure of the Agency Defendants to consider any alternatives or the reliance interests of the regulated parties is clearly demonstrated," the order acknowledged.
