$100,000 H-1B visa fee struck down

In a significant victory for employers and foreign professionals, a federal court in Massachusetts has invalidated the Trump administration’s controversial $100,000 H-1B visa fee. The fee, announced in November 2025, dramatically increased the cost of sponsoring new H-1B workers and was widely criticized as an attempt to discourage legal employment-based immigration.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the fee amounted to a tax that could only be imposed by Congress, not through executive action. The court concluded that no statute authorized the executive branch to impose such an extraordinary charge on H-1B petitions. As a result, the State Department and USCIS have been barred from enforcing the fee.

The decision is expected to provide immediate relief to employers that rely on highly skilled foreign workers, particularly in the technology, engineering, healthcare, and research sectors. Many organizations had warned that the fee would make it financially impossible to recruit essential talent and would place U.S. employers at a competitive disadvantage globally. It also greatly affected how many H1s were filed in this past cycle, costing the U.S. anywhere from $19-$28 million dollars in lost fees.

While the administration has indicated it intends to appeal, the ruling reinforces an important principle: major changes to immigration fees and policies must comply with statutory limits and constitutional requirements. Employers should continue to monitor developments closely, as future appeals could affect the longterm status of the decision.

Policy memo continues to cause concern

One of the most important immigration developments of the past several weeks remains USCIS’s May 21st policy memorandum addressing adjustment of status eligibility. Immigration attorneys continue to analyze the memo’s practical effects on applicants seeking permanent residence from within the U.S., based on what we’re hearing from the administration and from clients.

The initial memorandum addresses circumstances in which applicants may be required to pursue immi- grant visa processing at consulates overseas rather than completing the green card process through adjustment of status in the U.S. For employment-based applicants, family-sponsored immigrants, and individuals with complex immigration histories, the stakes are significant. Consular processing can involve lengthy delays, additional expense, and potential exposure to inadmissibility issues that may not arise during adjustment of status adjudication. We have been closely monitoring how USCIS officers apply the memorandum in real-world cases.

The memo was issued on a Friday afternoon, as is typically the case with this administration, and with little to no guidance as to how it would be applied. Even officers at USCIS did not know how to interpret it, which led to about a week of interviews being held and then immigrants being told that the case was approvable but was on hold until USCIS understood what the administration wanted to have happen in these cases. Following significant public concern and criticism from the immigration law community, USCIS was able to issue a clarifying statement on June 1st, explaining that the memorandum would be applied on a case-by-case basis and that Adjustment of Status remains available in appropriate circumstances, despite earlier statements suggesting a broader shift toward mandatory consular processing.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES—JULY 2026

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS—JULY 2026

Visa Bulletin for July 2026 is available on our website. Please go to http://www.khabar.com/magazine/ immigration/