New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined a group of 18 attorneys general in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a significant fee increase for the H-1B visa program. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges a newly announced $100,000 fee on all new H-1B applications, which is a substantial rise from previous fees that were typically several thousand dollars.
Attorney General James stated, “H-1B visas allow talented doctors, nurses, teachers, and other workers to serve communities in need across our country. The administration’s illegal attempt to ruin this program will make it harder for New Yorkers to get health care, disrupt our children’s education, and hurt our economy. I will keep fighting to stop this chaos and cruelty targeting immigrant communities.”
The H-1B visa program has existed in various forms since the 1950s and was updated in the 1990s to allow employers to hire skilled workers for up to six years in specialty occupations. These workers are employed across both public and private sectors and play an important role in addressing labor shortages in fields such as medicine and education.
According to Attorney General James and her colleagues, increasing fees would make it much more difficult for states to use the H-1B program to address workforce shortages. This could particularly impact rural and underserved areas already struggling with limited access to healthcare professionals. For example, New York’s rural counties have only four primary care physicians per 10,000 people. Additionally, hospitals face an anticipated nursing shortage projected at 40,000 by 2030. Over one-third of healthcare workers in New York are immigrants. Nationally, projections from the American Medical Association indicate that there could be a shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036.
The fee increase may also affect educational institutions that rely on H-1B visa holders as teachers or researchers. Across the U.S., at least 930 colleges and universities employ staff through this visa program; more than half are public four-year institutions and over ten percent are medical schools. In New York alone, SUNY employs nearly 700 individuals on H-1B visas who serve students throughout rural and suburban regions.
Other sectors such as technology, finance, and arts also depend on these skilled workers; more than 13,000 people hold H-1B visas within these industries across New York State.
The coalition argues that imposing such a large fee without following established rulemaking procedures violates both the Immigration and Nationality Act—which governs the H-1B program—and the Administrative Procedure Act. They note that neither Congress nor the Department of Homeland Security set this fee after proper process or allowed for public input before its implementation.
The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring this action unlawful and preventing enforcement of the new $100,000 application fee policy.
Attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont Washington,and Wisconsin have joined Attorney General James in filing this suit.