A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, marking the second judicial setback for the controversial charge.
US District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland ruled that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department had not followed the required rule-making procedures before introducing the fee.
The ruling came after a coalition of unions, employers and nonprofit organizations sought to stop the fee while their broader legal challenge proceeds.
The latest decision follows a separate ruling in Boston that temporarily halted the same fee in a case brought by 20 US states. An appeals court in Boston later declined to suspend that decision.
The administration had initially introduced the $100,000 charge with an expiration date of September 21. Trump subsequently extended the measure for another year.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has been working on a permanent fee of roughly $103,000. That proposal is expected to face its own legal challenges, although those cases could raise different questions from the lawsuits surrounding Trump’s existing fee.
The legal battles have also drawn involvement from major business groups. The US Chamber of Commerce has filed a separate lawsuit challenging the fee and is appealing after a judge rejected its argument that Trump lacked the authority to impose it.
The H-1B program allows US employers to recruit foreign professionals for jobs requiring specialized skills. Technology companies are among its major users.
Under the existing system, 65,000 H-1B visas are generally available each year, along with another 20,000 reserved for foreign workers holding advanced degrees from US institutions. Visas are typically issued for periods ranging from three to six years.
The new charge represents a dramatic increase from the fees historically associated with H-1B applications, which have generally totaled a few thousand dollars depending on the circumstances of the application.
The administration has defended the policy by arguing that the H-1B system has been misused and that companies have used foreign workers as a source of lower-cost labor. Trump invoked federal immigration authorities in imposing the fee, arguing that restrictions were necessary to protect US interests.
The administration has also introduced tighter screening measures for H-1B applicants and proposed changes to the visa selection system that would place greater weight on higher-paid and more highly skilled workers.
The California ruling does not resolve the broader dispute over the administration’s authority to impose the fee. Instead, it adds another legal obstacle to the policy as several cases continue moving through the courts.
