The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 29 appealed a federal judge’s ruling upholding the Trump administration’s decision to increase the fee for H-1B visas for employees in specialty occupations to $100,000.
Before the policy change, the fee ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the employer’s size.
The plaintiffs included the Chamber of Commerce—a business federation with about 300,000 direct members—and the Association of American Universities, which represents 69 U.S.-based research universities, both of which had sued to block the policy.
“The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security,” the proclamation said.
“Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”
The plaintiffs had argued that the proclamation exceeded the authority of the Departments of Homeland Security and State.
They argued that the policy change violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a 1946 law that governs administrative law procedures for federal executive departments and independent agencies.
Sen. Pat McCarran (D-Nev.) said the law was “a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated in one way or another by agencies of the federal government.”
However, the judge found that the proclamation’s lawfulness and its implementation are based on “a straightforward reading of congressional statutes giving the president broad authority to regulate entry into the United States for immigrants and nonimmigrants alike.”
The proclamation was issued in accordance with powers Congress gave the president, and actions taken to implement it do not violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the judge said.
The judge added that this ruling in favor of the federal government “is not to dismiss or discount the past and ongoing contributions of H-1B workers to the American economy that plaintiffs highlight.”
How the program affects the U.S. economy or national security, “whether positive or negative, are simply not at issue in this case,” she said.
It has long been the position of the U.S. Supreme Court that “matters of economic and foreign policy are generally entrusted to the political branches of government and ‘rarely proper subjects for judicial intervention,’” Howell said.
The brief document does not explain why the plaintiffs are appealing the judge’s ruling.
Specialty occupations covered under the program include engineering, mathematics, architecture, medicine and health, education, law, and accounting.
The number of H-1B visas issued annually is capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for advanced U.S. degree holders.
California Attorney General Bonta said the $100,000 visa fee “creates unnecessary—and illegal—financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labor shortages in key sectors.”
“The Trump Administration thinks it can raise costs on a whim, but the law says otherwise,” Bonta said when the lawsuit was filed in federal court on Dec. 12.
