A federal district court in Massachusetts has vacated the Trump administration’s $100,000 supplemental payment requirement for H-1B visa petitions, ruling that the President lacked constitutional authority to impose it. The decision is a significant win for employers who rely on the H-1B program to hire and retain global talent.
Background
In September 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10973, adding a $100,000 payment to all new H-1B petitions filed on behalf of workers outside the United States, as well as certain petitions for workers already in the country. For employers accustomed to total H-1B filing costs ranging from roughly $1,000 to $7,500, the new requirement represented a dramatic and disruptive change to workforce planning and immigration budgets.
In the Massachusetts case, twenty states sued, arguing the fee was unconstitutional and violated federal administrative law.
The Court’s Ruling
The court agreed with the states on every count. The court’s central finding is that the $100,000 payment is a tax, not a permissible restriction on the entry of foreign nationals. Because the power to impose taxes belongs exclusively to Congress, and Congress never delegated that power to the President, the fee had no legal foundation.
The court also found that the agencies that implemented the fee, including DHS and the State Department, violated federal rulemaking requirements by rolling out the policy without the public notice-and-comment process that the law requires. The agencies also failed to provide any reasoned justification for the change or consider how employers had structured their workforce plans around the existing H-1B fee framework.
Accordingly, the court vacated the $100,000 payment requirement in its entirety.
What This Means for Your Organization
The court’s order means that the $100,000 fee is no longer legally in effect. However, this litigation may not be over.
We anticipate that the government will appeal, and appellate courts or other district courts could issue rulings that affect today’s outcome. Out of an abundance of caution, we will delay filing any H-1B petitions that had been subject to the $100,000 fee for one week, to allow time for any appeal/emergency stay or contrary ruling by another court to come to light.
We are monitoring developments closely and will update you promptly as additional information becomes available. In the meantime, please reach out to your Meltzer Hellrung contact with any questions about pending or soon-to-be-filed petitions.
