A judge says Trump can’t charge businesses $100,000 to hire H-1B workers
Businesses in the U.S. will, for the time being, no longer have to pay $100,000 to sponsor workers they bring in from overseas.
A federal judge ruled President Donald Trump’s fee on H-1B visa applications is unconstitutional.
An H-1B visa is a temporary work visa that allows American employers to hire foreign professionals in specialized fields such as technology, engineering, healthcare, and finance when the jobs require specific expertise.
“It’s a relief for businesses,” Bill Hing, professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco, told Straight Arrow.
Judge ruling
Judge Leo Sorokin decided those fees violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.
Twenty states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the fees.
The judge agreed with the states that the fee is a tax, which the president cannot levy on his own.
“The tax can only be levied by Congress, and so he crossed the line when he entered into this area of charging $100,000 for a particular type of visa,” Hing said.
The Trump administration disagreed with the ruling.
“President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, told CNBC.
Trump fee
The president enacted the fee in September of last year.
It led to some immediate responses from major companies, including Walmart, which began halting H-1B job offers.
Some companies have already paid that fee to bring in workers, primarily major tech companies in Silicon Valley.
“But most of their clients are not willing to do that, and so what that means is that companies will be able to use the flexibility that the H-1B visas provide to them to do their business in a manner that they think will not be restrained,” Hing said.
What’s next?
The Trump administration has already said they plan to appeal this ruling.
The district court is the lowest-level court in the federal system, with the next stop likely to be the court of appeals.
If that does not go the Trump administration’s way, the matter can be appealed further, ending at the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, companies are not required to pay the fee.
“It’s looking like this fee will be suspended for the moment pending further appeals,” Hing said.
As for the companies that have already paid the fee, they will likely seek reimbursement from the government.
However, any refunds will likely have to wait until the appeals process is completed, which will take some time.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
