‘Trump has no authority’ lawsuit challenges $1,00,000 H-1B visa fee hike, involves Indian woman’s case

A federal court in San Francisco is now hearing a legal challenge to US President Donald Trump’s latest H-1B visa proposal. The lawsuit, filed by a coalition of unions, employers, and religious organisations, aims to block the president’s directive that imposes a one-time $1,00,000 fee on H-1B visa applications.

According to a document from the US Court of Northern District of California, eight  plaintiffs including Indian woman Phoenix Doe have argued that the president “has no authority” to impose fees or taxes unilaterally to generate revenue, nor can he dictate how those funds are spent. 

“Defendant Donald J Trump is the President of the United States and is sued in his official capacity,” the lawsuit states.

All about Indian Phoenix Doe

According to court documents, plaintiff Phoenix Doe is a citizen of India residing in the Northern District of California. 

“She is a postdoctoral researcher at a US university whose cap-exempt H-1B change-of-status petition has been halted due to the $1,00,000 Requirement, putting at risk her work on detecting and treating blinding conditions and disrupting the laboratory that relies on her.”

As per lawsuit, her research focuses on identifying the genetic and epigenetic causes of vision loss due to aging, diseases such as

diabetes, and rare inherited genetic abnormalities of unknown etiology, with the goal of finding new ways to diagnose and treat blinding conditions. 

Doe’s ongoing work requires a minimum of two more years. Due to the value of her skills and research expertise in both computational biology as well as wet-lab bench research, her university employer approved her

for H-1B sponsorship, and she expected the process to be completed by this December, allowing her to visit her home country for the first time in six years. 

Instead, as a result of the Proclamation, her university has indefinitely paused moving forward with the processing of her application. 

“She is suffering debilitating stress and anxiety due to the uncertainty of her position, which exacerbates the PTSD from which she suffers. Without relief, Plaintiff Phoenix will be forced to leave her postdoctoral position the United States within four months, causing serious professional and personal harm,” the lawsuit states.