Judge blocks Trump administration's $100,000 H-1B visa fee

Dallas — Kishore Khandavalli started his career in the United States on an H-1B visa. He now runs a software consulting firm in Dallas that employs 380 people, nearly half of them on H-1B visas.

Khandavalli said the company needs workers with skills that are scarce among U.S. applicants, especially in newer technologies. He estimated that the $100,000 fee President Trump announced in September 2025 would have cost his business about $1 million a year.

On June 8, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the administration lacked authority to impose the fee. In a 42-page decision, Sorokin wrote that the payment amounted to a tax and that no statute authorized the administration to collect it. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by 20 states.

Khandavalli has not hired any new foreign workers since the fee took effect. Much of his workforce comes from India, which accounted for 73 percent of H-1B recipients in 2023, according to Pew Research Center data.

CBS News visited the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, where several students said they had planned to move to the United States on student visas and then seek H-1B status. Doctoral student Ravi Bushan said he had long hoped to work in the United States but is now considering other countries because of the visa changes.

The Trump administration is appealing the judge's decision. Khandavalli said further restrictions could force him to move work overseas and warned that reduced access to H-1B workers could hurt innovation in the United States over the next several years.