OAKLAND, Calif. — A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from imposing its unprecedented $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, ruling that immigration authorities failed to follow required rule-making procedures, Reuters reported Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland found that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department did not complete the formal notice-and-comment process required before putting the fee in place. His order bars implementation while the lawsuit proceeds.
The case was brought by a coalition of unions, employers and nonprofits represented by the advocacy group Democracy Forward. It is the second court defeat for the fee: a Boston judge blocked it in June in a case brought by 20 states, and an appeals court in July declined to pause that ruling. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed a third lawsuit, according to Reuters.
The Department of Homeland Security moved in August to adopt a permanent fee of about $103,000, and the administration extended the $100,000 charge for another year. The White House did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
Business groups say the fee would choke off access to foreign engineers, doctors and researchers on whom American technology firms depend, while supporters of the charge say it protects U.S. workers from being undercut. With multiple cases now active in federal courts, the legal fight over the fee is expected to continue for months.