Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced that New Jersey has joined a coalition of 20 states in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration regarding its recent policy imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions. The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers for roles requiring specialized skills, such as physicians, researchers, nurses, and teachers.
“The Trump Administration’s illegal imposition of an exorbitant $100,000 fee on those seeking H-1B visas would cause significant pain for New Jerseyans, hurting our best-in-the-nation education system, reducing access to critical health care, and setting back cutting-edge medical and scientific research,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Because of this senseless and unlawful policy, our residents would see longer wait times in emergency rooms, lengthy delays for medical appointments, and more crowded classrooms. There is no rational or legal basis for this unlawful change, and we look forward to blocking this unlawful policy in court.”
The lawsuit responds to a proclamation by President Trump issued on September 19, 2025. The policy requires a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B visa petition filed after September 21, 2025. According to the complaint filed by the states’ attorneys general, this fee is not authorized by Congress and was implemented without following required rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
H-1B visas allow employers to fill positions that require at least a bachelor’s degree. Employers must demonstrate through certification from the U.S. Department of Labor that hiring an H-1B worker will not negatively impact wages or working conditions of similar U.S. employees. Congress caps annual H-1B visas at 65,000 with an additional exemption for up to 20,000 individuals holding advanced degrees.
Fees for H-1B applications have traditionally ranged between $960 and $7,595 depending on various regulatory requirements—significantly less than the newly imposed $100,000 fee.
The coalition argues that the increased cost far surpasses actual processing expenses and was set without public input or assessment of its broader impacts—especially regarding essential services provided by government and nonprofit organizations.
In New Jersey specifically—which had the fourth-highest number of approved initial H-1B employment petitions nationwide in fiscal year 2025—the visa program helps address shortages among teachers in K–12 schools as well as primary care doctors and nurses. Twenty K–12 school systems received approval for an H-1B worker in 2025 alone; nine medical residency programs also sponsor such visas across the state.
The suit is led by California and Massachusetts alongside New Jersey and other participating states including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin.
