A second federal judge has blocked the $100,000 fee imposed by US President Donald Trump on new H-1B visas, marking another legal setback for an immigration policy that has drawn strong opposition from businesses and civil society groups.
US District Judge Haywood Gilliam, sitting in Oakland, California, ruled on Wednesday, September 30, that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department bypassed required rule-making procedures when they introduced the fee. Judge Gilliam, appointed by former President Barack Obama, granted a request by a coalition of unions, employers, and nonprofits to suspend the fee while their October lawsuit proceeds through the courts.
Previous Legal Challenges and Ongoing Appeals
According to Reuters, this is not the first time a court has intervened. A federal judge in Boston temporarily halted the fee in June in a separate case filed by 20 US states. A Boston-based appeals court declined in July to lift that order. A third challenge has come from the US Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest business lobbying group, which is currently appealing a ruling that rejected its argument that Trump lacked the authority to set the fee in the first place.
The Department of Homeland Security moved in August to establish a permanent version of the fee, setting it at roughly $103,000. However, that process raises different legal questions from the current lawsuits, which centre on whether the president can unilaterally set such a charge.
Fee Extension and Reaction
The original fee was due to expire on September 21, but Trump extended it by another year. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the latest ruling. Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal group representing the plaintiffs, welcomed the decision.
"Today's decision protects a system that was thrown into chaos overnight," said Steve Bressler, a lawyer with the group.
Understanding the H-1B Programme
The H-1B visa programme allows US employers to bring in foreign workers trained in specialist fields. Technology companies are among its biggest users. The programme makes 65,000 visas available each year, with an additional 20,000 reserved for workers holding advanced degrees, valid for three to six years.
Before Trump's order, H-1B fees typically ranged from about $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the circumstances, making the new $100,000 charge a dramatic increase. Trump justified the fee by invoking presidential powers under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of foreign nationals deemed harmful to US interests, arguing that companies had exploited the programme to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour.
The administration has also tightened vetting requirements for H-1B applicants and proposed a revised selection process that would give preference to higher-skilled, better-paid workers.
