Multistate brief led by New Jersey attorney general challenges Trump administration’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin led a multistate coalition Tuesday in filing an amicus brief opposing a Trump administration policy that would impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, arguing the move would unlawfully harm states’ health care, education, and research systems.

The brief challenges a proclamation issued by President Donald Trump in September that orders the unprecedented fee for new H-1B visa petitions. As implemented by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the policy applies to applications filed after Sept. 21, 2025.

At issue is the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers for specialized jobs that require advanced education or training. Hospitals, public schools, and universities have long relied on the program to fill persistent labor shortages, particularly in health care, education, and scientific research, according to the brief.

Platkin said the policy would worsen existing shortages of teachers, doctors, nurses, and other public service workers in New Jersey and undermine medical and scientific research at the state’s universities.

“The Trump Administration’s illegal decision to impose an exorbitant fee on those seeking H-1B visas would gravely harm our state,” Platkin said in a statement. He added that New Jersey is leading the coalition to stand up for thousands of residents who hold H-1B visas.

The brief argues that the new fee undermines the purpose of the H-1B program by making it prohibitively expensive for employers in critical fields to sponsor workers, particularly public institutions and health care providers. It says the policy would limit employers’ ability to meet patient and student needs and threaten cutting-edge medical and scientific research.

New Jersey is among the states most affected, according to the filing. The state had the fourth-highest number of approvals for H-1B petitions for initial employment in the country in fiscal year 2025, with 7,729 approvals. Twenty K-12 school systems in New Jersey secured an H-1B approval in 2025 alone. The state also has nine medical residency programs that sponsor H-1B visas, and nearly one-third of New Jersey’s health care workers are immigrants, many of them holding H-1B visas.

The coalition also argues the administration acted unlawfully by failing to follow notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements when adopting the fee, depriving states of the opportunity to raise concerns about its economic and workforce impacts.

The amicus brief was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in support of Global Nurse Force, which sued the Trump administration over the fee. It follows a complaint filed earlier this month by Platkin and a similar coalition of states challenging the policy.

Joining Platkin on the brief are the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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