The Trump administration suffered a setback on Friday after a US federal appeals court refused to lift a ruling that blocks the government from charging a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas.The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston left in place a June 8 decision that found the fee unlawful, allowing the order to remain in effect while the administration challenges it in court, reported Reuters.The case stems from a lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general, who argued that the administration had effectively created a new tax without congressional approval. A district judge agreed, ruling that the fee exceeded the executive branch’s authority.Rejecting the administration’s emergency request, the three-judge appellate panel said the government had not shown it was likely to prevail in its appeal.Trump announced the steep fee increase through a presidential proclamation in September, saying it was aimed at curbing what he described as misuse of the H-1B programme by employers.“The H-1B program has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor,” Trump had said while unveiling the measure.The H-1B programme, widely used by technology companies and other employers to hire highly skilled foreign professionals, grants 65,000 visas each year, along with an additional 20,000 visas for applicants with advanced US degrees.Before the new policy, employers generally paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in government fees to sponsor an H-1B worker. The proposed $100,000 charge applied only to new overseas applicants and did not cover foreign nationals already in the United States on student visas, who make up a large share of H-1B recipients.Court filings show that only a small number of employers have paid the fee since it was introduced.
