Federal court decisions invalidate both the $100,000 H1B fee and the nationality-based USCIS processing hold

On June 8, 2026, in California v Mullin, a federal district court found the $100,000 fee imposed by Presidential Proclamation 11011 to be invalid and vacated the proclamation imposing it. (See our prior news posting: USCIS Clarifies the $100,000 H-1B Fee.)  

On June 18, 2026, the Trump administration filed an appeal of that decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeal. Other lawsuits against the $100,000 fee remain pending. (See our prior news postings: U.S. Chamber of Commerce files 2nd lawsuit against the $100k H-1B proclamation and Complaint filed against $100k H-1B proclamation.) 

On June 5, 2026, in Dorcas v USCIS, a federal district court deemed invalid certain nationality-based USCIS policies which placed a hold on certain immigration benefits. These included holds on asylum processing, comprehensive re-review of prior grants of immigration benefits to nationals of “travel ban” countries, and country-specific policies on negative discretionary factors due to nationality in a “travel ban” country. On June 18, 2026, the administration filed an appeal and moved for stay of the vacatur. (See our prior news postings: USCIS hold, Proclamation effective January 1, 2026, and Proclamation effective June 9, 2025.)