Why was Trump’s H-1B fee struck down?
The Hindu – International
thehindu.comSummary
Subscribed with another email? Sorokin struck down President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B work visa visas for highly skilled foreign workers. The H-1B visa, created by the Immigration Act of 1990, is the backbone of the United States’ high-skilled immigration architecture. Notably, H-1B workers can generally remain in the U.S. for up to six years and often use the visa as a pathway to permanent residency. To balance employers’ demand for skilled talent with protection of the domestic workforce, Congress capped H-1B approvals for most private employers at 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 visas reserved for holders of advanced degrees. Trump signed Proclamation 10973, requiring a $100,000 supplemental payment for all H-1B visa petitions — a substantial increase over the pre-existing filing costs of roughly $960 to $7,595. The proclamation reasoned that the H-1B programme had been “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers” with lower-paid foreign labour, harming U.S. economic and national security interests, particularly in critical STEM sectors. Indians account for roughly 70% of H-1B visa approvals, followed by Chinese nationals at about 12%, and are heavily represented in the STEM professions targeted by the proclamation. By raising the cost of an H-1B petition, the policy effectively created a prohibitive barrier for thousands of Indian software engineers, doctors, researchers, and other skilled professionals, many of whom already face years-long green card backlogs. Kartikey Singh, lawyer, and currently working as a Law Clerk-cum-Research Associate at the Supreme Court of India.
From the source
What is the H-1B visa programme and who uses it? Why did the Trump administration impose the $100,000 fee? What impact was the policy expected to have on States and employers? Did the President have the authority to impose the fee? Why did the court classify the charge as a tax rather than a penalty?
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Published by The Hindu – International on thehindu.com
