A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a challenge by the largest US business lobby group to President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for the new H-1B visas for highly-skilled international workers, underlining that it fell under the President’s broad powers to regulate immigration, Reuters reported.
US District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, DC, rejected arguments by the US Chamber of Commerce that the fee was is conflict with the federal immigration law and will likely lead many companies, hospitals and other employers to cut jobs and the services they provide to the public, Reuters quoted.
“The parties’ vigorous debate over the ultimate wisdom of this political judgment is not within the province of the courts,” Howell wrote. “So long as the actions dictated by the policy decision and articulated in the Proclamation fit within the confines of the law, the Proclamation must be upheld.” Howell is an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama.
The court’s statement came as the US Department of Homeland Security announced its decision to scrap the H-1B visa lottery system to replace it with a model in favor of higher-paid and more skilled foreign professionals. The move is part of the wider push by the Trump administration to reshape the H-1B program.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Chamber of Commerce’s statement
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The Chamber’s executive vice president and chief counsel, Daryl Joseffer, said many small and medium-sized businesses will be unable to afford the fee.
“We are disappointed in the court’s decision and are considering further legal options to ensure that the H-1B visa program can operate as Congress intended,” Joseffer wrote in a statement.
The new H-1B visa program?
The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers with training in specific fields. Technology companies rely heavily on workers who receive H-1B visas. The program offers 65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years, according to reports.
“The rule implements a weighted selection process that will favor allocating H-1B visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels. This final rule is effective February 27, 2026, and will be in place for the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season,” the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services stated in a notification.
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However, this move will make it far more difficult for entry-level workers, including a large number of applicants from India, to secure employment visas in the US.
Trump’s order would sharply raise the cost of obtaining H-1B visas, which typically came with about $2,000 to $5,000 in fees depending on various factors.
The Chamber, in its lawsuit, emphasised the new fee would force businesses that rely on the H-1B program to choose between dramatically increasing their labor costs or hiring fewer highly-skilled foreign workers.
A group of Democratic-led US states and a coalition of employers, nonprofits and religious organizations have also filed lawsuits challenging the fee.
Trump’s plan
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Trump, meanwhile, in an order imposing the fee invoked his power under federal immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals that would be detrimental to US interests.
Howell on Tuesday said Trump had adequately backed up his claim that the H-1B program was displacing US workers, including by citing examples of companies that laid off thousands of Americans while simultaneously petitioning for H-1B visas.
