A federal judge has blocked a policy introduced under U.S. President Donald Trump requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee when filing new H-1B visa petitions.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the fee amounted to an unauthorised tax and violated both the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution.
The H-1B visa programme, created in 1990, allows U.S. employers especially in the tech sector to hire highly skilled foreign workers for specialised roles for up to six years.
Companies such as Microsoft and Google rely heavily on the scheme.
The judge agreed with plaintiffs that the proposed payment functioned as a tax that Congress had not authorised the executive branch to impose.
The ruling effectively halts the policy, which was part of broader immigration restrictions announced in September targeting non-immigrant workers.
