India, June 9 -- In a major move that came as a relief for thousands of highly-skilled immigrant employees in the United States, a federal court in Massachusetts's Boston struck down the Trump administration's hike of H-1B visa fee to $100,000, calling it unlawful, contradicting an earlier federal court ruling upholding the fee hike.

The fresh order comes in contradiction to a Washington DC federal court ruling which upheld the fee in a case brought by the US Chamber of Commerce.

According to the US department of labor, the H-1B program applies to employers seeking to "hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability".

A specialty occupation is one that requires the "a...