Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to allow $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas

Three-judge panel of Democratic appointees let stand lower court's ruling that fee constitutes an unlawful tax

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a bid by Donald Trump's administration to halt a judge's order preventing it from imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers.

The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals declined to put on hold a lower court judge's 8 June ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 Democratic state attorneys general, striking down the fee on the basis that it constituted an unlawful tax Congress never authorized.