An article summarized by Quartz:

A federal judge has struck down President Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa application fee, ruling that the charge was effectively an unauthorized tax that Congress never approved. Judge Leo Sorokin found that the fee violated both the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, siding with California and 19 other Democratic-led states that challenged the policy. The administration had argued the fee was necessary to discourage misuse of the H-1B program and protect American workers.

Trump introduced the fee in September, dramatically increasing the cost of H-1B applications from the previous range of roughly $2,000 to $5,000 per petition. The policy had an immediate impact, with court filings showing only 85 payments had been processed through mid-February. The White House maintained that federal immigration law gave the president authority to impose the charge, but the court rejected that argument.

The ruling is a major win for businesses and immigration advocates who warned the fee would make it harder for companies, especially smaller firms, to hire skilled foreign workers. The H-1B program currently supports about 700,000 workers in the U.S. and is heavily used by major tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Alphabet. The government is expected to appeal the decision, while several other legal challenges against the fee remain ongoing.

For the article: https://qz.com/trump-h1b-visa-fee-struck-down-federal-judge-060826