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

A federal judge on Monday struck down a Trump administration policy requiring employers seeking H-1B visas to pay a $100,000 application fee.

The policy violated both the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the US Constitution, Judge Leo Sorokin ruled in a decision issued by the US District Court in Massachusetts.

Last September, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B work visas.

"We need workers. We need great workers. And this pretty much ensures that that's what's going to happen," Trump said in the Oval Office while signing the proclamation.

The overhaul was intended to curb what the administration described as widespread abuse of the visa system, particularly by companies using it to replace US technology workers with lower-cost foreign labor.