Multiple lawsuits and legal challenges have been raised ever since US President Donald Trump imposed the additional $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications. A US appeals court has now seemingly backed the opposition to the MAGA leader’s crackdown targeting a nonimmigrant visa program that allows American employers, especially technology companies, to hire high-skilled foreign workers.
On Monday (US time), a US appeals court agreed to fast track an appeal by US business and research groups that seeks to challenge the recently imposed $100,000 fee on the work visa category ahead of the annual H-1B visa lottery scheduled to commence in March, as per Reuters.
As previously reported, a follow-up regulation by the US Department of Homeland Security will replace the random lottery with a wage-weighted selection process that will give preference to higher-skilled and higher-paid international workers. This particular rule will be effective February 27, 2026.
US court to expedite H-1B visa fee-related appeal
The US appeals court’s decision came after the world’s largest business organisation, the US Chamber of Commerce, pushed for a faster review of the issue, while arguing for the need to protect employers’ rights.
It particularly asked for the process to be expedited so that the proceedings could wrap up ahead of the usually March-scheduled H-1B visa lottery. “Those employers’ ability to participate in the H-1B program this year therefore hinges on the outcome of this appeal; without relief by March, it will be too late,” the Chamber of Commerce said in court papers filed on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.
As per the international news outlet’s report, the Trump administration did not hinder the demand, leading the court to map out a plan that will push oral arguments to go ahead in February.
US Chamber of Commerce vs Trump’s H-1B visa fee
The US appeals court’s new decision comes a week after an Obama-appointed federal court judge refused to stop the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B applications. On December 23, a judge ruled that the US president’s September proclamation and its implementation were lawful.
Consequently, the Chamber of Commerce appealed the aforementioned federal court’s rejection. In its lawsuit, the business advocacy organisation argued that the new fee pushes US businesses currently relying on the H-1B program to either raise their labour costs or hire a lesser number of highly-skilled foreign workers.
The US Chamber of Commerce had originally requested the US District Court for the District of Columbia to strike down the new H-1B visa fee in October. In the lawsuit filed back then, the group contended that Trump’s blanket fee imposition violated federal immigration law, claiming the president went beyond the authority accorded to him by Congress in such visa fee matters.
Other than the Chamber, a coalition of labour unions, health care providers, schools and religious organisations also filed a lawsuit in October to stop Trump’s H-1B visa fee imposition.
A press release detailing the inspiration behind the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California stated: “When the government makes it prohibitively expensive or impossible for these professionals to come to America, or for current H-1B workers to transition to a more permanent status, entire communities lose — patients wait longer for care, students have fewer teachers, and local economies miss out on the innovation and jobs these experts create.”
On top of that, a 20-state coalition also ended up challenging Trump’s H-1B fee in a lawsuit filed in December 2025, alleging the new policy is “a clear violation of the law because it imposes a massive fee outside of the bounds of what is authorized by Congress and contrary to Congress’s intent in establishing the H-1B program, bypasses required rulemaking procedures, and exceeds the authority granted to the executive branch under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).”