Donald Trump's attempt to attach a 100,000‑dollar price tag to many new skilled‑worker visas has been stopped by the courts. A federal judge has thrown out the fee on new H‑1B visas, calling it unlawful.
What is the H‑1B visa?
The H‑1B is the main route through which companies in the United States hire skilled foreign workers — engineers, doctors, researchers, software developers and finance professionals. Firms apply on behalf of the worker, pay a fee, and if selected, the worker gets permission to live and work in the US for several years. Demand for these visas has always been high. The US government runs an annual lottery because more companies apply than there are visas available.
What Trump did
In September 2025, President Trump signed an order imposing a new 100,000‑dollar charge on many new H‑1B visas. The fee was paid by the employer, not the worker, and applied specifically to cases where a foreign national was being brought into the US on a fresh H‑1B entry. It did not apply to workers already inside the US renewing their status with the same employer.
The White House said the fee was designed to force companies to think harder before hiring abroad instead of training Americans. Officials described it plainly as a price signal: if a company truly needs a particular foreign specialist, they should be willing to pay the government 100,000 dollars to sponsor that visa.
Why it caused alarm
The problem was not just the size of the fee. It was who it would price out. Large technology companies could absorb 100,000 dollars per hire for a handful of senior roles. Smaller firms, start‑ups, universities and public institutions could not do so at scale. Groups representing business, research and state governments sued, arguing that the administration had no legal authority to impose a charge that far exceeded the actual cost of processing a visa and that, in effect, amounted to an immigration tax imposed without proper legal basis.
What the court decided
On 8 June 2026, a federal district court threw out the rule. The judge found that the administration had exceeded its powers and that the 100,000‑dollar charge could not stand. The order effectively removes the fee from the H‑1B framework. Employers sponsoring new workers are no longer required to pay it.
The administration has not confirmed whether it will appeal the ruling or seek an alternative route to achieve the same effect. Until a higher court reverses this decision or a new rule is introduced, the fee is off the table.
What still stands
The ruling does not return the H‑1B system to what it was before Trump. Other changes remain in place. The lottery has been restructured to favour higher‑paid roles over lower‑paid ones. Scrutiny of applications has increased. Processing rules have been tightened. The combined effect is still a more restrictive, more selective system than existed before, even without the 100,000‑dollar fee.
Why it matters
For skilled professionals in Nigeria and across Africa and Asia, this ruling removes the risk that every new H‑1B move would carry a six‑figure toll at the door. It does not, however, reopen the US as an easy destination. What remains is a system with higher bars, tighter scrutiny and an administration that remains politically committed to making sponsored migration harder and more expensive than it was five years ago.
The attempted experiment of turning new H‑1B entries into a 100,000‑dollar tariff has been halted. The broader direction of travel has not changed.
Sources: CNBC, 8 June 2026; Reuters, January 2026 and September 2025; BBC, September and October 2025; US Chamber of Commerce court filings, October 2025; California Attorney General press release, December 2025; Time, December 2025; IAS Services, April 2026.