Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee draws legal challenge from California, other states

Dec 12 - California and other U.S. states will file a lawsuit ​on Friday seeking to block ‌President Donald Trump's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas ‌for highly-skilled foreign workers, California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said.

The lawsuit will be at least the third to ⁠challenge the ‌fee announced by Trump in September, which dramatically raises the ‍cost of obtaining H-1B visas. Currently, employers typically pay between $2,000 and $5,000 in fees.

Bonta's office ​in a release said Trump lacks ‌the power to impose the fee and that it violates federal law, which allows immigration authorities to only collect fees necessary to cover the cost ⁠of administering visa programs.

The ​H-1B program allows ​U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields. The tech ‍industry, with ⁠many companies headquartered in California, is particularly reliant on workers who receive ⁠the visas.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, ‌New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi ‌and Chizu Nomiyama)