Oregon is suing the Trump administration for imposing a $100,000 fee on a popular legal pathway employers use to hire highly skilled, foreign workers. That’s roughly 13 to 100 times the current fees for the specialized work visas.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and a coalition of 18 other Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Friday in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging the Trump administration’s new H-1B visa fee, announced in September, exceeds what is authorized by Congress. They argue it contradicts Congress’s intent when it established the program, bypasses required rulemaking procedures and exceeds the authority granted to the executive branch. The new fee does not apply to existing H-1B visa holders, only to new recipients.
H-1B visas allow U.S. employers to petition the federal government for permission to hire highly skilled foreign workers for jobs that are hard to fill, require specialized training and at least a bachelor’s degree, such as some medical jobs, technology jobs and university research positions. Congress currently limits the number of H-1B visas available to bachelor’s degree-holders each year to 65,000, and makes available 20,000 visas for applicants holding a master’s degree or higher.
In ordering the new fee, the Trump administration alleged the program was being abused to allow companies to hire foreign workers who would accept lower wages, was displacing workers born in the U.S. and discouraging Americans from pursuing skills and credentials to fill jobs currently filled by H-1B visa holders.
Public universities in Oregon are dependent on H-1B visa holders to fill specialized faculty, research and staff roles. Oregon State University currently sponsors more than 150 individuals with H-1B visas,and there are 50 H-1B visa holders currently working at the University of Oregon.
“Oregon’s colleges, universities and research institutions rely on skilled international workers to keep labs running, courses on track and innovation moving forward,” Rayfield said in a statement. “This enormous fee would make it nearly impossible for these institutions to hire the experts they need, and it goes far beyond what Congress ever intended. This threatens Oregon’s ability to compete, educate and grow.”
Employers filing an initial H-1B petition would usually expect to pay between $960 to $7,595 in regulatory and statutory fees, but the Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee exceeds the actual cost that it takes to process the visa, according to the Oregon Department of Justice.
Aside from Oregon, the coalition of states includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
