Court Decision June 8, 2026 · JBNP Law
A federal judge has thrown out the $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions. If you're an H-1B worker — or an employer sponsoring one — this is real relief. But it isn't over, and the "for now" matters.
On June 8, 2026, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston vacated the $100,000 H-1B fee the administration rolled out last September. He found it amounted to an unlawful tax — the executive branch can't invent a six-figure charge that Congress never authorized — and that the way it was imposed broke the Administrative Procedure Act.
Late last September, a proclamation tacked a $100,000 charge onto new H-1B petitions (those filed or approved for consular processing), up from the usual couple thousand dollars in filing fees. For a lot of employers — hospitals, universities, startups, smaller companies — that number simply priced H-1B hiring out of reach.
The case was brought by a coalition of 20 states, led by California and Massachusetts. The judge didn't just pause the fee for those states — he vacated it entirely, finding the administration acted outside its authority and went around Congress. He also called it arbitrary, noting the government ignored how hard the fee would hit healthcare and education. So, for now, the fee is off the table nationwide — for all employers, not just the ones who sued.
Here's the part not to gloss over: a different federal judge, in Washington, D.C., looked at the same fee and upheld it. A split like that between courts makes an appeal — and very likely a trip to a higher court, possibly the Supreme Court — close to certain, and the government has already said it intends to appeal. The fee is gone today, but "today" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. If the appeal goes the other way it could come back, and it won't truly be settled until a final ruling from an appeals court or the Supreme Court.
If you're an employer, this is meaningful relief on new H-1B sponsorships — but don't treat it as permanent. Build some flexibility into your hiring plans and budgets in case the fee returns while this works its way up on appeal. If you're an H-1B worker, especially heading into cap season, talk to counsel before making any move that assumes the fee is gone for good — and be careful with international travel right now, since the rules can shift while you're outside the country. Book a consultation and we'll walk through how this affects your specific situation.
This post is general information, current as of when it was written — not legal advice, and no substitute for talking to an attorney about your own case. This is a fast-moving area with conflicting court rulings, and the decision is expected to be appealed. Reading this doesn't make us your lawyers. Please get advice on your specific situation before you act.