Overview
- U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin vacated the $100,000 payment for new H‑1B petitions in a decision issued Monday, June 8, 2026, ordering the policy set aside across the country.
- Sorokin found the payment functioned as a tax that Congress never authorized and held that agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by skipping required notice‑and‑comment rulemaking.
- The decision provides immediate relief to employers and prospective H‑1B applicants by removing the six‑figure charge that had sharply deterred filings.
- Court records show very few employers paid the fee before the ruling—USCIS reported 85 payments as of Feb. 15—which the administration disputes as it prepares to appeal the Boston decision.
- The ruling deepens a split in lower courts because another judge in Washington, D.C., upheld the fee, so the case is likely to move through the federal appeals courts and could reach the Supreme Court with major consequences for tech firms, universities, hospitals and large numbers of Indian professionals who rely on H‑1B visas.