Second judge blocks Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

Oakland, California — On October 1, 2026, a second federal judge halted President Donald Trump's proposed US$100,000 fee for new H-1B visas granted to highly skilled foreign workers. US District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland found that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, along with the State Department, had not adhered to proper rule-making procedures when implementing the fee.

The judge granted a request from a coalition of unions, employers, and non-profit organizations, halting the agencies from enforcing the fee pending a lawsuit filed in October. The fee, temporarily blocked in June by a federal judge in Boston in a separate case, was also rejected by a Boston-based appeals court in July. The Department of Homeland Security had moved to establish a permanent fee of approximately US$103,000.

Once finalized, it would likely face legal challenges, though those would address different issues than the current lawsuits, which question Trump's unilateral authority to impose the fee. The US$100,000 fee was set to expire on September 21, but Trump extended it for another year. The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers trained in specialized fields and is widely used by technology companies, providing around 65,000 visas annually, plus 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees.

Visas are typically valid for three to six years. Before Trump's order, H-1B visa fees generally ranged from US$2,000 to US$5,000.