US Chamber appeals ruling upholding Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

The legal battle over the future of the H-1B visa programme has intensified, with the US Chamber of Commerce moving to challenge a court ruling that cleared the Trump administration's steep $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, according to Bloomberg. The fee is widely seen as a potential disruptor for American technology companies that rely on skilled foreign workers.

The Chamber filed a notice of appeal on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, following a judge's ruling on December 23 that President Donald Trump acted lawfully in sharply increasing the cost of the popular work visa.

The appeal adds to an escalating legal fight in Washington. Trump’s September proclamation imposing the fee is already facing separate challenges in Massachusetts from more than a dozen states, mostly led by Democrats, and in California from a global nurse-staffing agency, along with several unions. The dispute is widely expected to reach the US Supreme Court.

The H-1B visa programme is a cornerstone of employment-based immigration, allowing US companies to hire college-educated foreign workers for specialised occupations. Trump has argued that the fee hike is necessary to curb what he calls abuse of the programme and to prevent displacement of American workers.

Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have also suggested the higher fee could deliver a massive windfall for the US Treasury, potentially exceeding $100 billion. Immigration attorneys, however, have warned that such a dramatic cost increase would severely disrupt hiring and could prove expensive for the broader US economy.

In its October lawsuit, the Chamber argued that the fee is unlawful because it overrides federal immigration law and exceeds the fee-setting authority granted by Congress. That argument was rejected by US District Judge Beryl Howell, who ruled that Trump had acted under “an express statutory grant of authority to the President.”

The ruling has dimmed the Chamber’s prospects on appeal. Bloomberg Intelligence Litigation Analyst Matthew Schettenhelm said the business group faces a steep uphill climb.

“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 for the District of Columbia.