(MENAFN- Live Mint) The US Chamber of Commerce on Thursday filed a legal challenge to the Donald Trump administration's $100,000 fee on H-1B visa petitions, arguing that the imposition of the new fee is unlawful.

The lawsuit said that the new fee overrides the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that givers the H-1B visa programme, including the requirement that visa fees should be based on the costs incurred by the government to process said visas.

"The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for US employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which was created by Congress expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the US," Neil Bradley, the Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

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“President Trump has embarked on an ambitious agenda of securing permanent pro-growth tax reforms, unleashing American energy, and unraveling the overregulation that has stifled growth. The Chamber and our members have actively backed these proposals to attract more investment in America. To support this growth, our economy will require more workers, not fewer,” the statement added.

“The president deserves credit for securing our nation's border. With the border secure, we now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to accomplish targeted legal immigration reforms, and we stand ready to work with Congress and the administration to make that happen. That includes working together on common-sense reforms to improve the visa process for skilled workers. The president has said he wants to educate, attract, and retain the world's best and brightest in the US, and the Chamber shares that goal,” the statement concluded, striking a conciliatory tone and highlighting the opportunity for legal immigration reforms.

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The legal challenge by the US Chamber of Commerce, which says it represents 300,000 businesses, is the group's first against the current administration since Trump took office for a second term in January this year.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, urges the court to declare that Trump exceeded the executive branch's authority by imposing the fee and seeks a block on federal government agencies from enforcing it.

The White House, when contacted by news agencies about the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comments, so it remains to be seen what the administration's response to the challenge will be.

As for the question of whether the fee will be waived, there's no clarity yet and we will need to wait for the case to proceed before we have more answers.

From $3,600 to $100,000

The lawsuit comes a month after Trump announced the new fee on H-1B visas, arguing that employers were using the programme to replace American workers with cheaper overseas talent.

With the astronomical visa fee raising alarm bells, the White House has since clarified that the fee won't apply to existing H-1B visa holders, and has even offered a form that allows applicants to request exemptions from it.

Historically, H-1B visas have been given out through lottery, and prior to Trump's executive order that introduced the new fee, H-1B applications cost as less as $3,600, as per the US Chamber of Commerce.

Although the new $100,000 fee is slated to expire after a year, it could be extended if the Trump administration decides that it is in the interest of US to retain it.

AP reported that thus far in 2025, Amazon has been the highest recipient of H-1B visas with over 10,000 awarded to the e-commerce giant. Jeff Bezos' company is followed by the likes of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Microsoft, Apple, and Google, all of whom are large recipients of H-1B doles.

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