‘Hurting country very badly’: Donald Trump on court order scrapping H-1B visa fee

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticised the federal court order striking down the USD 100,000 H-1B visa fee, saying such actions were hurting the country very badly.

“These judges are really giving us a hard time, really crazy. They are giving us a very, very hard time ... they're hurting our country very badly,” Trump told reporters in New York after watching the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday struck down the Trump administration's USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which California and 19 other states had challenged.

Federal judge Leo Sorokin ruled that the USD 100,000 fee imposed by Trump for H-1B applications was unlawful because it lacked Congressional approval.

In September last year, Trump signed a proclamation adding the USD 100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications.

A White House spokesperson indicated that the order will be challenged in an appellate court.

"The H-1B programme has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.

"A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal," Rogers said.