(Bloomberg/Peter Blumberg) — The US Chamber of Commerce is appealing a federal court’s refusal to block the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on applications for H-1B visas that are heavily relied on by American technology companies for hiring skilled foreign workers.
The national business group filed a notice of appeal Monday in Washington federal court, where a judge ruled on Dec. 23 that President Donald Trump’s effort to radically increase the cost of the popular visa is lawful.
The escalating fight in Washington comes as the September proclamation by Trump imposing the fee faces separate challenges filed in Massachusetts by more than a dozen mostly Democratic-led states and in California by a global nurse-staffing agency and several unions. The dispute is expected to ultimately go to the US Supreme Court.
The H-1B visa program is a cornerstone of employment-based immigration, allowing companies in the US to hire college-educated foreign workers for specialized occupations. Trump moved to increase the application fee to discourage companies from abusing a program that he claimed displaces US workers.
It’s a stark shift from America’s historical stance toward immigration. Since its founding, the US has welcomed people from diverse countries and economic backgrounds who come to the US in search of a better life and more freedom.
Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have mused about the prospects of the new H-1B fee generating a windfall for the US Treasury that could total $100 billion or more. But immigration attorneys have cautioned that an increase in cost of this magnitude would cause major disruptions that would be likely very expensive to the US economy.
The Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, argued in its October lawsuit that raising the fee is unlawful because it overrides federal immigration law and exceeds the fee-setting authority afforded by Congress.
In her Dec. 23 ruling, US District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the Chamber’s argument that Trump doesn’t have the power to impose the fee. The judge, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, found that the proclamation was issued under “an express statutory grant of authority to the President.”
Bloomberg Intelligence Litigation Analyst Matthew Schettenhelm said in a note that the Chamber faces an uphill battle on appeal.
“Though the Chamber had a solid judge — Obama-appointee Judge Beryl Howell, who’s been tough on the Trump administration — she handed Trump a sweeping victory,” he wrote. “If Judge Howell didn’t find legal defects in the novel proclamation, we doubt the DC Circuit or US Supreme Court would either.”
The case is Chamber of Commerce v. US Department of Homeland Security, 25-cv-03675, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
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