A federal judge on Monday vacated President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee for employers’ H-1B visa applications.
The visa payment policy violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution, Judge Leo Sorokin declared in the ruling in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
The H-1B policy was created in 1990 and is heavily used by U.S. tech giants to bring in high-skilled workers from overseas. The program allows U.S. employers to seek government permission to hire a nonimmigrant workers in specialty occupations for up to six years.
Trump implemented the $100,000 fee in a presidential proclamation last September in order to restrict the program, arguing that its misuse has undermined American economic and national security through the “large-scale replacement of American workers.”
Prior to the change, H-1B visa fees had ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 per application, CNBC previously reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Sorokin’s ruling.
