Coalition sues to block Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee, citing disruption to employers and workers.
Lawsuit highlights potential loss of healthcare staff, teachers, pastors, and key innovators.
Fee challenges legality of executive action, arguing Congress controls H-1B programme.
A coalition of healthcare providers, religious organisations, university professors and other groups filed a federal lawsuit on Friday to block the $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, saying the sudden policy has created “chaos” for employers, workers and federal agencies, AP reported.
The legal challenge follows President Donald Trump’s September 19 proclamation requiring the fee, which he said was intended to prevent the H-1B programme from being “exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour.” The fee was scheduled to take effect within 36 hours, prompting employers to recall workers immediately.
According to AP, the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, argues that the H-1B programme is essential for hiring healthcare workers, educators and other specialised professionals. Without relief, it warns, hospitals could lose medical staff, churches could lose pastors, classrooms could lose teachers, and industries risk losing innovators.
Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said the fee could deter highly skilled professionals from bringing critical research to the U.S. Mike Miller, Region 6 Director of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, described the plan as prioritising “wealth and connections over scientific acumen and diligence.”
AP reported how Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, called the fee illegal, and argued that Congress, not the executive branch, controls the H-1B programme. The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Trump, and the State Department as defendants. Requests for comment were not immediately returned.
The H-1B visa programme, created to attract high-skilled foreign workers, covers professions including nurses, teachers, physicians, scholars, priests and pastors. Critics have said it often supplies workers willing to accept salaries well below typical U.S. technology wages. This year, Amazon received over 10,000 visas, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google, with California hosting the highest number of H-1B workers, AP reported.
(With inputs from AP)
