Chamber of Commerce sues Trump over H-1B visa $100K fee for skilled foreign workers

The US Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers.

The pro-business group’s six-figure fee is “plainly unlawful,” exceeds what Congress is permitted and will “inflict significant harm on American businesses.” 

“The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for US employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the US,” the Chamber’s Vice President Neil Bradley said in a statement. 

Bradley noted that his group and its members have “actively backed” President Trump’s “ambitious agenda” to promote economic growth, which he said “will require more workers, not fewer.”  

“The president has said he wants to educate, attract, and retain the world’s best and brightest in the US, and the Chamber shares that goal,” Bradley said, adding that the Chamber of Commerce would like to work with Trump “on common-sense reforms to improve the visa process for skilled workers.” 

Trump upped the fee on H1-B visa applications via executive order on Sept. 19. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the time that the idea behind the order was to have American companies hire and train US workers, instead of hiring foreign ones. 

“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Lutnick said. 

“Either the person is very valuable to the company and America, or they’re going to depart and the company is going to hire an American.”

The new fee went into effect on Sept. 21. 

Prior to Trump’s proclamation, the majority of H-1B petitions cost employers less than $3,600. 

Critics of the visa program have argued that it incentivizes tech companies to hire overseas employees who are often willing to work for far less than the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to US technology workers.

“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H1-B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement. 

“The Administration’s actions are lawful and are a necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms to the H-1B program,” Rogers added.