US Appeals Court Refuses to Revive Trump's $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

A federal appeals court declined to revive the Trump administration's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, The Hindu reported. The Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause a lower court's June ruling that struck down the charge, which the earlier judge found to be an unlawful tax that Congress never authorized. The president had imposed the fee through a proclamation last September.

The three-judge panel found that the administration had not shown it was likely to prevail on appeal in arguing that it stayed within its authority. The original challenge was brought by 20 state attorneys general who said the fee would price skilled foreign workers out of the United States.

The H-1B program is central to how American technology firms recruit engineers, and Indian nationals account for the largest share of recipients. A $100,000 charge would have sharply raised the cost of that hiring, and the ruling removes, for now, a barrier that would have pushed more technical work offshore.