Washington DC: In a major setback for Donald Trump, a second federal judge on Wednesday (local time) blocked an unprecedented $100,000 fee imposed by the
US President on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers. US District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California, ruled that US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department did not follow required rule-making procedures before introducing Trump’s fee, reported Reuters. Gilliam, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, sided with a coalition of labour unions, employers, and nonprofit groups seeking to temporarily halt the fee while their October lawsuit challenging the measure proceeds. Notably, in June this year, the visa fee was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Boston. However, in July, a Boston-based appeals court refused to stay that decision. In August, the Department of Homeland Security proposed making a roughly $103,000 fee permanent. Once finalised, the measure could face separate legal challenges. Those cases would likely raise different questions from the existing lawsuits, which primarily contest whether a president can impose such a fee without congressional or regulatory action. For the unversed, the USD 100,000 fee was originally set to expire September 21 this year. However, the Trump administration extended it for another year. Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal group that represents the plaintiffs, hailed the ruling. "Today’s decision ... protects a system that was thrown into chaos overnight," said Steve Bressler, a lawyer with the group, as reported by the news agency. Meanwhile, the US Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest business lobbying group, has also filed a third lawsuit challenging the fee. The Chamber is challenging a court ruling that dismissed its argument that Trump lacked the authority to impose the fee.
What Is The H-1B Visa Program?
The H-1B program allows US employers to hire foreign workers with training in specialty fields. Technology companies in particular rely heavily on workers who receive H-1B visas. The program offers 65,000 visas annually, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years.What Does US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Mean For Indians?
The court's verdict came as relief for Indians working in the US. Notably, India’s share is higher among professionals already employed in the US under the H-1B visa programme. Around 70 per cent of total approvals under this visa programme are Indians.Indians reportedly received over 50 per cent of initial H-1B employment approvals, but accounted for over 70 per cent of approvals for continued employment.
