U.S. Chamber of Commerce sues Trump administration over $100,000 H-1B visa fee

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday alleging that a $100,000 fee for new visas for highly skilled foreign workers is unlawful.

The lawsuit aims to block the charge for new H-1B visa applications, which the chamber said would inflict “significant harm” on American businesses by sharply increasing their labor costs or curtailing their ability to hire skilled employees.

The fee only applies to new petitions for this specific visa, not to existing H-1B visas or renewals.

“The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially startups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the U.S.,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the chamber, said in a statement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the country’s largest pro-business organization, representing nearly 3 million companies. News of the group’s lawsuit was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. 

While the chamber concedes that U.S. presidents have significant authority over the entry of noncitizens into the country, Mr. Trump’s Sept. 19 proclamation regarding H-1B visas exceeds his authority and “blatantly contravenes the fees Congress has set” for the program, the group said. 

According to the lawsuit, “The Proclamation is not only misguided policy; it is plainly unlawful.” 

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said the administration’s actions are “lawful and are a necessary, initial, incremental step toward necessary reforms to the H-1B program.”  

“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H1-B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” Rogers added.

The H-1B visa was created by Congress in 1990 to attract foreign workers in technical fields like engineering, and it has been widely used in recent years by big technology companies to hire programmers and other technology specialists from abroad. 

The lawsuit comes after a coalition of health care groups and labor unions earlier this month sued the Trump administration, alleging the H-1B fee is unlawful.