A coalition of labor unions, health care providers, schools, and religious organizations filed a lawsuit (Global Nurse Force et al v. Trump et al.) today seeking end of President Trump’s sweeping executive action that imposed a new $100,000 entry fee on every new H-1B application. The President’s proclamation of September 19, 2025 affects employers, foreign workers, and all sectors of U.S. economy. We had a blog post suggesting a potential lawsuit!
The H-1B visa program was created by Congress to attract and retain skilled professionals from around the world to fill jobs in the economy and help strengthen American innovation. Under the program, U.S. employers can hire qualified foreign talent — such as doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, and researchers, scientists, professors.
The lawsuit is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenges the order as unconstitutional and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. Plaintiffs include Global Nurse Force; Global Village Academy Collaborative; Society of the Divine Word; the Fathers of St. Charles; Church on the Hill; International Union; United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW International); UAW Local 4811; American Association of University Professors (AAUP); Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU (CIR), a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in the Appalachia region, and a citizen of India residing in the Northern District of California.
These plaintiffs represent medical residents, fellows, interns, and nurses serving rural and medically underserved communities, a school that relies on H-1B workers to serve their students, religious organizations that depend on the H-1B program to hire pastors and religious professionals that minister to underserved communities, major labor unions representing faculty and academic professionals and higher education members, and individual highly skilled workers whose careers and lives were upended overnight. Plaintiff and co-counsel’s quotes can be found on Democracy Forward website, here.
The complaint details how the sudden $100,000 entry fee:
- Defies Congress: The H-1B program has a carefully crafted fee and oversight system set by law. The President cannot rewrite it overnight or levy new taxes by proclamation.
- Invites chaos and favoritism: The order offers a vague “national interest” loophole with no clear standards for fee exemptions, opening the door to arbitrary, pay-to-play decisions.
- Hurts communities nationwide: Rural hospitals warn they will be unable to keep needed doctors and nurses; schools say the unlawful fee is more than many teacher salaries; and nonprofit organizations and research institutions can’t absorb the significant expense. All will lose if they cannot utilize H-1B workers.
- Undermines the economy: Economists agree that H-1B workers create U.S. jobs and drive new industries. Forcing talent away means companies move operations—and good jobs—overseas.
Without relief, hospitals will lose medical staff, churches will lose pastors, classrooms will lose teachers, and industries across the country risk losing key innovators. The suit asks the court to immediately block the order and restore predictability for employers and workers. The case is Global Nurse Force et al v. Trump et al. Read the complaint here.
(Learn more about the issue, President Trump Restricts Entry of H-1B Skilled Workers into the U.S.)
Note: This is a blog post by Adhikari Law PLLC and should NOT be construed as a legal advice. Changes in immigration policies and procedures are complex and may require a consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer.
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