Obama-era judge says Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee legal, fight moves to appeals court

The battle over the visa fee has now moved to an appeals court after the US business group filed a notice of appeal this week, challenging the federal court’s order.

• US Chamber of Commerce appeals $100,000 H-1B visa fee after judge upholds order
• Judge Howell ruled Trump had legal authority to impose the visa fee
• The dispute may reach the US Supreme Court amid multiple ongoing challenges

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The US Chamber of Commerce will now appeal the imposition of $100,000 H-1B visa fee by the US government after a Barack Obama-appointed judge refused to block the order.

US District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the arguments of the US Chamber of Commerce and ruled on December 23 that President Donald Trump had the legal authority to impose the fee.

The judge said the Trump administration acted under an express statutory grant of authority, according to a Bloomberg report.

The battle over the visa fee has now moved to an appeals court after the US business group filed a notice of appeal this week, challenging the federal court’s order.

Judge Howell dismissed the Chamber’s argument that said the fee is against the federal immigration law and crosses the authority granted to executive branch by Congress. Howell serves on the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The escalating fight in Washington comes as the September proclamation by Trump imposing the fee faces separate challenges filed in Massachusetts by more than a dozen mostly Democratic-led states and in California by a global nurse-staffing agency and several unions. The dispute is expected to ultimately go to the US Supreme Court.

The H-1B visa program is a cornerstone of employment-based immigration, allowing companies in the US to hire college-educated foreign workers for specialized occupations. Trump moved to increase the application fee to discourage companies from abusing a program that he claimed displaces US workers.

Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have mused about the prospects of the new H-1B fee generating a windfall for the US Treasury that could total $100 billion or more. But immigration attorneys have cautioned that an increase in cost of this magnitude would cause major disruptions that would be likely very expensive to the US economy.

The Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, argued in its October lawsuit that raising the fee is unlawful because it overrides federal immigration law and exceeds the fee-setting authority afforded by Congress.