The Issue On June 8, 2026, Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts struck down the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee for H-1B visa petitions. In State of California v. Mullin, twenty states successfully challenged Proclamation 10973, which required employers to pay a $100,000 supplemental fee when filing H-1B petitions for highly skilled foreign workers applying from outside the United States.
Judge Sorokin vacated the fee, holding that the administration overstepped its constitutional and statutory boundaries. The court determined that the $100,000 payment was not a regulatory penalty, but an unconstitutional tax. The Constitution vests the power to tax exclusively with Congress. Because the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) does not delegate taxing authority to the President, the fee was ultra vires, meaning it exceeded the executive branch’s legal power.
Additionally, the court held that the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The administration implemented the fee without required notice-and-comment procedures and acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to provide a reasoned explanation for the drastic fee increase.
The Impact: Is There a Nationwide Injunction? The court did not issue a nationwide permanent injunction. Instead, it provided relief through a different legal mechanism: vacatur.
Under the APA, a court can “set aside” or vacate an unlawful agency action. Unlike an injunction, which is a coercive order directing specific parties to act or stop acting, a vacatur operates on the rule itself by invalidating the source of the government’s authority. By vacating the policy in its entirety, the court effectively eliminated the fee requirement for all employers nationwide. Judge Sorokin specifically noted that because the complete vacatur provided sufficient relief, the extraordinary remedy of a permanent injunction was unnecessary.
The Risk: Next Steps for the Government The Trump administration plans to appeal the decision. On appeal, the government will likely argue that the President possesses sweeping inherent authority over immigration and national affairs to impose entry restrictions.
The government may also challenge the district court’s use of vacatur as an appropriate remedy under the APA. If the appellate court determines that vacatur is unavailable under the APA, a permanent injunction may then be warranted.
The Recommendation For now, the $100,000 fee is vacated, meaning employers can file H-1B petitions for candidates outside the United States without the exorbitant payment. However, because the administration intends to appeal the ruling, businesses must remain vigilant. We recommend employers proceed with their necessary H-1B filings but consult closely with legal counsel to monitor the appellate docket before making final, long-term hiring commitments for international candidates.
