Broad Coalition Sues to Block Trump-Vance Administration’s “Innovation Ban”

The H-1B visa program is a congressionally created path that allows U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign professionals — from doctors and nurses to teachers, researchers, and clergy.

On September 19, 2025, President Trump abruptly issued a Presidential Proclamation demanding a $100,000 payment with every new H-1B petition.

The rule was effective just 36 hours later, throwing employers, workers, and federal agencies into confusion and forcing many visa holders to rush back to the United States or cancel travel plans

The proclamation ignores congressional direction, which sets H-1B fees, worker protections, and limits through law — and left no guidance on how the new “payment” would work or where the money would go. It also created a vague “national interest” exemption ripe for favoritism and corruption.

On October 3, 2025, a broad coalition of plaintiffs — including Global Nurse Force, UAW International and Local 4811, the Service Employees International Union Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Global Village Academy Collaborative, and several religious organizations — filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Individual workers also joined, including a U.K. pastor serving Appalachian congregations and a postdoctoral researcher in California whose work was halted by the sudden fee.

The plaintiffs represent:

• Hospitals and health systems that depend on international nurses and physicians to fill life-saving roles in rural and underserved areas.
• K-12 schools and universities that rely on H-1B teachers and scholars to serve students.
• Faith-based groups that hire clergy and religious professionals with needed language and cultural skills.
• Major labor unions representing tens of thousands of academic employees.
• Individual skilled workers whose careers and communities were upended overnight.

The suit challenges the proclamation as unconstitutional and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act. It asks the court to block the $100,000 requirement, restore predictability for employers and workers, and prevent the President from overriding Congress’s control over immigration fees and policy.

Shortly after filing the lawsuit, the administration quietly issued new guidance walking back one of the policy’s most extreme provisions—signaling that the fee may not apply to certain individuals already in the U.S. who are in the process of changing their immigration status. However, the unlawful $100,000 fee remains in effect in many circumstances, harming students, workers, and employers in the United States.

On December 18, the coalition filed a series of motions in this case:

• An amended complaint to add three new plaintiffs: Nephrology Associates, Lower Brule Day School, and BAE Industries, all of whom are struggling to hire or retain H-1B employees for critical roles as doctors, teachers, and engineers.
• A motion to certify a class of all employers subject to the $100,000 fee.
• A motion for preliminary injunction as well as a motion to expedite the hearings for the first two motions.