Law·ImmigrationTrump sued over $100k H-1B visa fee that has ‘thrown employers, workers and federal agencies into chaos’By Martha BellisleBy The Associated PressBy Martha BellisleBy The Associated Press President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday, Sept.
30, 2025, in Washington.
AP Photo/Alex BrandonIn what appears to be the first major challenge to the new $100,000 fee required for H-1B visa applications, a coalition of health care viders, religious groups, university fessors and others filed a federal lawsuit Friday to stop the plan, saying it has “thrown employers, workers and federal agencies into chaos.” President Donald Trump signed a clamation on Sept.
19 requiring the new fee, saying the H-1B visa gram “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.” The changes were slated to go into effect in 36 hours, which caused panic for employers, who instructed their workers to return to the U.S.
immediately. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, said the H-1B gram is a critical pathway to hiring healthcare workers and educators.
It drives innovation and economic growth in the U.S., and allows employers to fill jobs in specialized fields, the lawsuit said.
“Without relief, hospitals will lose medical staff, churches will lose pastors, classrooms will lose teachers, and industries across the country risk losing key innovators,” Democracy Forward Foundation and Justice Action Center said in a press release.
“The suit asks the court to immediately block the order and restore predictability for employers and workers.” They called the new fee “Trump’s anti-immigration power grab.” Messages seeking from the Department of land Security and U.S.
Customs and Border tection, which are named as defendants along with Trump and the State Department, were not immediately returned.
The H-1B visa gram was created by Congress to attract high-skilled workers to fill jobs that companies find difficult to fill.
a third of H-1B workers are nurses, teachers, physicians, scholars, priests and pastors, according to the lawsuit.
Critics say the gram is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. nology workers.
Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through a lottery.
This year, Seattle-based Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, ed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google.
Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.
The $100,000 fee will discourage the best and brightest minds from bringing life-saving re to the U.S., said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University fessors.
Mike Miller, Region 6 Director of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, said Trump’s plan “prioritizes wealth and connections over scientific acumen and diligence.” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, contends the “exorbitant fee” invites corruption and is illegal.
Congress created the gram and Trump can’t rewrite it overnight or levy new taxes by executive order, the groups said. Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh.
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