Three religious institutions and a pastor are among the eleven plaintiffs that filed suit last week against the President and four federal departments and agencies challenging the Presidential Proclamation that imposed a $100,000 fee on applications for H-1B visas. These visas allow foreign workers in highly skilled specialty occupations to work in the United States for 3 or 6 years. The Presidential Proclamation says in part:
The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.
The complaint (full text) in Global Nurse Force v. Trump, (ND CA, filed 10/3/2025), alleges in part:
3. The H-1B program ... allows religious organizations to retain priests and pastors who have the language skills, cultural competency, and religious training needed to minister to underserved populations, including poor refugee and migrant communities and economically distressed Appalachian communities....
The suit alleges that the President acted beyond his statutory authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act in promulgating the new visa fee.
The Hill reports on the lawsuit.
