On September 30, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the DHS, USCIS, and State Department policies that put the $100,000 H-1B payment into effect. In Global Nurse Force v. Trump, the court also barred the agencies from enforcing those policies, under either the original September 2025 Proclamation or its September 18, 2026, extension, until they complete formal rulemaking.
The ruling came two weeks after the President extended the fee through September 2027. It is the second federal court to reach this result. In California v. Mullin, a Massachusetts court had already vacated the same policies, and the First Circuit declined to pause that decision.
Bottom line: The $100,000 fee is currently not in effect. The court did not strike down the proclamations themselves. It struck down the agency policies that implemented the fee, because the agencies skipped the procedural steps the law requires.
Why the Court Ruled for the Employers
- The harm is real, not speculative. The government argued the employers had not shown they could not hire Americans or obtain a national interest exception. The court disagreed, pointing to the employers’ detailed recruiting records. Several had requested exceptions and heard nothing, one for almost a year. The court held that government silence on exception requests cannot defeat an employer’s right to sue.
- The agencies’ policies can be reviewed. The government argued the agencies were only carrying out the President’s order. The court again disagreed, holding that implementing a presidential directive does not exempt an agency from the Administrative Procedure Act. The agencies did far more than repeat the Proclamation: they decided who pays, how to pay, and what it takes to get an exception.
- The agencies skipped required steps. Because those policies created binding obligations, they required public notice and comment, which never happened. The court rejected the argument that the fee was too temporary for rulemaking, noting the President had just extended it for a year. The agencies also never considered alternatives or employers’ reliance interests, making the policies arbitrary and capricious.
What This Means for Employers
The legal picture of the $100,000 fee remains fluid, with two federal circuit courts now having vacated the fee’s implementing policies while the D.C. Circuit is reviewing a lower court decision that upheld the fee. It is also highly likely, as noted in the Global Nurse Force decision, that the Supreme Court will have the final word on the $100K fee.
In addition, DHS has proposed a separate $103,265 H-1B filing fee which is currently in the regulatory notice and comment process. It is possible that this new fee could eventually replace the $100K fee, although we expect it to face significant legal challenges of its own, including questions about whether DHS has the authority to set a fee of that size.
Our Perspective
With the fee not in effect, employers have a window to submit new H-1B petitions that would have otherwise been required to pay the $100,000 fee. Employers with planned H-1B filings should speak with their Meltzer Hellrung attorney now about the best filing strategy. Timing, petition type, and where the beneficiary is located all affect the right strategy. We are carefully monitoring the status of all litigation related to the fee, as well as USCIS processing of H-1B petitions while the fee is paused, and will provide more information as it becomes available.
