Judge blocks Trump's $100,000 fee on H-1B visas

A federal judge in Oakland, California, halted an unprecedented $100,000 fee imposed by President Donald Trump on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, ruling that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department neglected to adhere to proper rule-making procedures. The judge, appointed by Barack Obama, granted a lawsuit filed by unions, employers, and nonprofits, seeking to block the fee implementation pending the resolution of legal proceedings initiated by the plaintiffs on October 1.

The fee, initially set to expire on September 21, was temporarily blocked in Boston in June but was not blocked by a federal appeals court in July. The Department of Homeland Security is set to finalize a permanent fee of around $103,000, which will likely face legal challenges. The fee, originally set to expire on September 21, was extended by Trump in August.

Critics argue Trump's action aims to curb businesses from hiring foreign labor, claiming the program has been abused to replace American workers with cheaper labor from abroad.