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US business lobby sues Trump govt over $100,000 H-1B visa fee hike
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington DC, seeks an injunction blocking the fee from taking effect
America’s largest business lobbying group sued the Trump administration on Thursday over its $100,000 H-1B visa fee, launching a major corporate challenge to the president’s immigration crackdown.
The US Chamber of Commerce argued in federal court that President Donald Trump acted illegally by imposing the charge, which it says overrides congressional immigration law and makes hiring skilled foreign workers cost-prohibitive for most American businesses.
“The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for US employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilise the H-1B programme, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the US,” said Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the Chamber, according to a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington DC, seeks an injunction blocking the fee from taking effect. It names the departments of Homeland Security and State as defendants.
The legal challenge marks an escalation in corporate America’s response to Trump’s immigration policies. Most businesses remained silent when the fee was announced in September, despite the Chamber polling members about joining potential litigation.
Ultimately, the Chamber sued alone, citing legal standing through its members who “count H-1B visa holders among their valued employees, and plan to continue sponsoring future hires for visas through the H-1B process, including in the next annual H-1B visa lottery”.
The Chamber’s membership features America’s largest technology companies, including Amazon, Alphabet and Meta — firms that dominate the H-1B programme. Amazon employed 10,044 workers through H-1B visas between 2009 and June 2025, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, while Microsoft hired 5,189 and Meta employed 5,123 during the same period.
The Chamber’s lawsuit represents the second major legal challenge to Trump’s H-1B overhaul within weeks. Earlier this month, a coalition of workers unions, non-profit organisations and religious groups filed the first lawsuit in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, arguing the president lacks authority to unilaterally alter an immigration programme created by Congress.
That earlier case questioned whether presidents have legal authority to rewrite visa filing requirements or whether such changes must come from Congress under the Immigration and Nationality Act — a distinction that will determine how much flexibility administrations have to reshape visa programmes without legislative approval.
Immigration attorneys have pointed out that the lawsuits deal with the central question of whether the White House can impose sweeping barriers to the H-1B programme without congressional approval.
“At the same time, the broader implications extend well beyond the courtroom. The H-1B program remains a heavily relied upon visa by US employers in technology and STEM fields. Further, a large share of H-1B professionals, particularly those from India, work in technology and STEM fields where US employers continue to report strong demand for specialised skills,” said Nicole Gurnara, principal immigration attorney at Manifest Law.
“But over the longer horizon, a ruling will likely clarify how stable and predictable the program can be, which matters enormously to Indian workers and other H-1B professionals who have built their lives in the United States, as well as to the employers who rely on their contributions,” Gurnara added.
