A federal judge in California has vacated the US agencies' policies for collecting the $100,000 H-1B visa fee, and barred them from enforcing those policies until they go through notice-and-comment rulemaking. Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. signed the order on 30 September; it is entry 130 on the case's docket [1][2].
The fee comes from Presidential Proclamation 10973, which requires employers to pay $100,000 with each new H-1B petition. The agencies' policies apply it to new petitions filed on or after 21 September 2025 [1].
It is the second court to block the policies. A federal court in Massachusetts vacated them earlier this year, and an appeals court refused to pause that ruling, the order notes [1].
What it covers
The order covers the policies of the Department of Homeland Security, its immigration and border agencies and the State Department, made under the proclamation and its 12-month extension of 18 September 2026 [1].
The agencies are barred from enforcing them "until notice-and-comment rulemaking under the APA and regulatory flexibility analyses under the RFA have been conducted." The government conceded it had done neither, the order says [1].
The employers who asked for the order include a Detroit auto-parts maker, a rural kidney practice in North Carolina and a school on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota. The judge also denied the government's motion to dismiss the case [1].
What it does not tell you
Whether the fee is gone. The order is preliminary, and the judge notes that DHS has proposed a $103,265 H-1B fee through formal rulemaking, published on 25 August 2026 [1].
Whether the policy is a good one. "This case is not about whether the challenged Proclamation is good or bad," the order says; it turns on how the agencies made their rules [1].
What happens on appeal. The judge expects "the United States Supreme Court is likely to eventually provide further clarity" [1].
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