Washington, October 1
A US federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers.
US District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, ruled on Wednesday that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department had failed to follow the required rulemaking procedures before implementing the fee.
Gilliam, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, granted a request by a coalition of unions, employers and nonprofit organisations to prevent the government agencies from enforcing the fee until a final ruling is issued in a lawsuit filed in October.
The ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the fee.
In June, a federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the fee in a separate lawsuit filed by 20 states. The Boston-based appeals court declined to overturn that decision in July.
In August, the Department of Homeland Security began the process of imposing a permanent fee of about $103,000. That fee could also face a legal challenge once the rule is finalised.
However, that case would involve different legal issues from the lawsuits challenging Trump’s fee. The current cases are focused on the president’s authority to impose such a fee unilaterally.
The $100,000 fee was initially set to expire on September 21, but Trump recently extended it for another year.
The White House did not immediately comment on Wednesday’s ruling.
Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal organisation representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the decision in a statement.
“Today’s decision … protected a system that had been thrown into chaos overnight,” said Steve Bressler, an attorney with the organisation.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobbying group, has also filed a third lawsuit challenging the fee. The chamber is appealing a judge’s decision that rejected its claim that Trump lacked the authority to impose the fee.
What is the H-1B visa programme?
The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign workers trained in specialised fields. Technology companies, in particular, rely heavily on workers who obtain H-1B visas.
The programme provides for 65,000 visas annually, along with an additional 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees. Visas are generally granted for periods ranging from three to six years.
Trump’s order significantly increased the cost of obtaining an H-1B visa. Previously, fees generally ranged from around $2,000 to $5,000, depending on various factors.
In imposing the fee, Trump invoked presidential authority under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals whose admission he said could harm US interests.
He has also claimed that businesses have abused the H-1B programme by replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labour.
The Trump administration has additionally ordered tighter screening of H-1B applicants and proposed a new visa selection process that would give preference to highly skilled and higher-paid workers.
