19 US states sue Trump admin over 'unlawful' USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B visas
New York/Washington (PTI): Nineteen US states have sued the Trump administration over its "unlawful" decision to impose a USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, warning that the move will worsen labour shortages in key sectors such as health care, education and technology.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with 18 other attorneys general, on Friday filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenging what they termed a "massive" increase in H-1B fees without legal authority or due process.
The H-1B visa programme allows highly skilled foreign professionals to work temporarily in the US and is widely used by Indian nationals.
The coalition argued that the new fee would make the programme effectively inaccessible for government and non-profit employers that depend on H-1B workers to provide essential services in health care, education, technology, and other fields.
"H-1B visas allow talented doctors, nurses, teachers, and other workers to serve communities in need across our country.
"The administration's illegal attempt to ruin this programme will make it harder for New Yorkers to get health care, disrupt our children's education, and hurt our economy. I will keep fighting to stop this chaos and cruelty targeting immigrant communities,” James said in a statement.
In September, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration would levy a one-time USD 100,000 fee on all new H-1B applications, which the attorneys general described as a "sudden" and “massive" increase over existing charges.
The attorneys general contended that the imposition of the new fee is "unlawful" and the move violates the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act, as it was imposed without congressional approval or the required rule-making process.
Joining James in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The coalition said the new fee on H-1B visas will severely restrict states' ability to hire new workers under the programme to address labour shortages, disrupting access to education, health care, and other critical services.
This shortage of workers would be devastating for rural and underserved communities already facing shrinking workforces, it warned.
In New York alone, more than a third of health care workers are immigrants, while public universities and hospitals rely heavily on H-1B professionals, according to the lawsuit.
In New York's 16 rural counties, there are currently four primary care physicians for every 10,000 people. New York’s hospitals already face a pervasive nursing shortage estimated to reach 40,000 nurses by 2030. A reduction in H-1B visa holders would only exacerbate this shortage, it said.
Nationwide, the American Medical Association estimates the US will face a shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036, a shortage that H-1B workers will be critical in filling, the lawsuit said.
Across the US, at least 930 colleges and universities employ staff on H-1B visas. More than half of these institutions are public four-year universities, and more than 10 per cent are medical schools.
In New York, the State University of New York (SUNY) employs 693 employees on H-1B visas, including many who serve students in rural and suburban areas of New York state.
The coalition argues that limiting access to H-1B visas will lead to more crowded classrooms for students and disrupt critical research at leading universities.
Other critical industries in New York, such as technology, finance, and the arts, also rely on H-1B visa holders to fill essential roles. Across the state, more than 13,000 people on H-1B visas work in these sectors.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Trump's USD 100,000 H-1B visa fee creates "unnecessary" and "illegal" financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labour shortages in key sectors.
"The Trump administration thinks it can raise costs on a whim, but the law says otherwise. We are going to court to defend California’s residents and their access to the world-class universities, schools, and hospitals that make Californians proud to call this state home,” Bonta said.
Since the 1950s, the US has had a visa programme that allows skilled workers to temporarily live in America and work in specialised fields. The current version of the H-1B programme was created in the 1990s and allows employers to hire workers in a “speciality occupation” for a maximum of six years.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
