WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, through a proposed rule published in the Federal Register, the Trump Administration laid out plans to impose a fee, essentially a tax, on U.S. employers seeking to file petitions for new cap-subject H-1B visas of more than $103,000 per petition.

Jeff Joseph, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) said, “This Administration is either unaware or unconcerned with the reality that American employers need talented foreign professionals to fill critical workforce gaps, keep the economy moving forward, and create new jobs. Research has repeatedly shown that immigrants complement native-born workers and together build a stronger, more vibrant economic engine. This exorbitant fee to participate in the H-1B program would shut out employers that use H-1Bs to fill job openings for essential staff like teachers, researchers, rural doctors, and clergy. To be clear, this proposed rule is an unprecedented move to fund adjudications of legal immigration processing at various federal agencies without specific congressional authorization and comes after the Trump Administration’s first attempt to tax H-1B employers bringing in new employees from overseas did not raise the expected revenue and was deemed unlawful by federal courts. This is executive overreach on steroids, and Congress and the courts must act.”

AILA Executive Director Benjamin Johnson added, “This proposal comes on the heels of other administration policies making the H-1B program more expensive and out of reach for many U.S. employers. The proposed pay-to-play fees do not make our country great, but signal to the world that the United States is closing its doors to scientists, doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs who help build companies, expand research, and strengthen communities. In response, countries like China and Canada have opened their doors to innovation by welcoming the world’s best and the brightest. When we push talent away, America loses jobs, innovation slows, and we hand our competitive edge over to other countries in areas such as business, healthcare, and technology. Rather than pursuing legally dubious measures to score political points, AILA urges the administration to strengthen America’s prosperity by investing in common-sense solutions.”