Amended complaint argues the administration is creating a pay-to-play fast lane that crowds out researchers, scientists, academic workers, and other qualified applicants

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) joined a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s “Gold Card” visa program. The union joins the American Association of University Professors and six high-skilled visa applicants as plaintiffs in the case. The lawsuit argues that the administration is unlawfully selling priority access to visas Congress reserved for highly skilled workers, researchers, scientists, and other accomplished applicants. Democracy Defenders Fund represents the plaintiffs along with Public Citizen and Colombo and Hurd.

At issue is a program the plaintiffs say unlawfully sells priority access to EB-1 and EB-2 visas, which Congress reserved for people with extraordinary ability or work that serves the national interest. Because those visas are capped, every visa awarded through the Gold Card program can delay or displace a qualified applicant.

UAW joined the case because it represents approximately 120,000 higher education workers, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, teachers, and other academic workers, many of whom are noncitizens working in the United States on temporary visas and seeking the same employment-based visas the Gold Card program threatens to divert to wealthy applicants.

“Our members are doing the teaching and research that American universities depend on,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “Many are waiting their turn in an already difficult-to-navigate and backlogged immigration system. The Gold Card program turns the process into a deeply unfair pay-to-play express lane. It lets millionaires and billionaires buy their way ahead of qualified workers who earned their place under the law.”

Beyond the EB-1 and EB-2 claims, the amended complaint argues that the Gold Card program unlawfully bypasses the EB-5 investor visa system Congress created by offering wealthy applicants a payment-based shortcut without EB-5’s investment, job-creation, and other statutory requirements.

“Congress created these visa pathways because America benefits when we attract and retain people with extraordinary skill,” said Craig Becker, managing counsel for affirmative litigation at Democracy Defenders Fund. “The people seeking these visas help develop new treatments, train students, conduct critical research, and keep America competitive. The Gold Card program replaces merit, expertise, and public benefit with wealth. That violates the law, and we are asking the court to shut it down.”

According to the lawsuit, the administration has no authority to create a new visa category. In doing so, it violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, skips required rulemaking procedures, and treats seven-figure payments as "gifts," even though applicants receive expedited processing and preferential treatment in return.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the Gold Card program unlawful and block the administration from continuing to implement it. The suit seeks to preserve employment-based visa pathways for the highly skilled workers Congress intended them to serve, rather than allowing those visas to be sold to the highest bidder.

You can read the full brief HERE.

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Democracy Defenders Fund  brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.