A U.S. federal appeals court has refused to put on hold a lower court’s order rejecting the Trump administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers.
Three judges on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected the federal government’s motion to stay U.S. District Judge Leo T Sorokin’s June 8 dismissal of the fee award, calling it an illegal tax without congressional authorization.
“…We deny defendants’ motion to stay pending appeal to this court, the district court’s June 8, 2026 memorandum and order, and the accompanying judgment,” the judge ruled Friday.
The justices agreed with the plaintiffs, 20 Democratic-governed states, that “the question here is not whether Congress could have delegated the authority in question. It is whether Congress has done so.”
president Donald Trump An announcement was made last September that a $100,000 fee would be charged for obtaining new products. H-1B visa.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialized occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. U.S. tech companies rely on it to hire tens of thousands of workers every year from countries like India and China.
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Citing a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the appeals court said the executive branch must prove that Congress spoke “clearly” in granting discretion to impose financial burdens, whether “fees” or “taxes.”
“However, the Trump Administration has not explained why this clear standard is not required in this case,” the order said.
The court also said the government failed to demonstrate why the plaintiffs claimed they would not suffer significant harm if the stay was denied.
The defendants “recklessly asserted that plaintiffs would face ‘minimal’ harm without developing that argument further — if it did constitute an argument that plaintiffs would not suffer substantial harm,” the order said.
The United States issues 65,000 H-1B visas each year, plus an additional 20,000 visas for foreign workers with advanced educational qualifications. The cost of these visas usually ranges from $2,000 to $5,000.
