Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 22 attorneys general, filed a comment letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposed rule that attempts to impose a $100,000 tax on petitions for H-1B visas that allow state and local governments to address nationwide shortages of critical service providers like teachers, physicians and nurses by hiring highly skilled workers who are not U.S. residents. 

In the comment letter, Raoul and the coalition argue the proposed rule would damage states’ ability to fill staff shortages in crucial fields and overstep the administration’s legal authority, and that the proposed rule lacks proper justification and does not provide enough time for public feedback. 

“Despite our recent win to strike down this attempt at a devastating tax on H-1B visas, the Trump administration will not relent on pushing an exorbitant tax on visas our critical service providers require to work in our country,” Raoul said. “These essential workers in Illinois and across the country educate our students and contribute to the health and wellness of our communities. I will continue to protect them and their employers from this unlawful tax.” 

On Aug. 25, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would impose a tax of $103,265 on non-cap-exempt employers, even though the administration’s recent attempt to impose a similar tax was struck down in June. 

In their comment letter, Raoul and the attorneys general urge USCIS to withdraw the proposed rule and argue: 

• The proposed H-1B visa tax would substantially harm states’ abilities to remedy staff shortages in fields crucial to their residents’ well-being, including primary and secondary schooling and healthcare. 
• The proposed rule exceeds USCIS’s legal authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• The proposed rule constitutes the imposition of a tax, which requires authorization from Congress that USCIS has not received. 
• The proposed rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, as USCIS both fails to adequately justify the burdens the tax would impose on states and fails to consider less harmful alternatives.
• USCIS has provided a procedurally inadequate and unusually short 30-day period for public comment on the proposed rule without providing proper justification. 

Joining Raoul in sending the letter are the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.