Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

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US court overthrows H-1B visa program changes, says administration’s causes unjustified

3 min read
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On Tuesday US federal judge struck down two Trump government rules designed to drastically curtail the number of visas issued every year to skilled foreign workers.

The changes applying to the H-1B visa program declared in October include imposing salary requirements for organizations. Also, hiring skilled overseas workers and limits on specialty occupations. Department of Homeland Security authorities considered it a need due to Covid related job losses. An estimated as many as one-third of the individuals who have applied for H-1B’s in recent years would be denied under the new guidelines.

However, US District Judge Jeffrey White in California said the public authority didn’t follow transparency procedures. And its dispute that the changes were a crisis reaction to pandemic job losses didn’t hold water. Because the Trump government has floated the idea for some time but only published the rules in October.

A Covid-19 pandemic is an occasion beyond the defendant’s control. Yet it was within the defendant’s control to make a move sooner than they did, White wrote.

The US issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas every year in sectors including technology, engineering, and medicine. Usually, they are given for three years and renewable. Most of the almost 600,000 H-1B visa holders in the US are from India and China.

The H-1B guidelines announced weeks before the election was important for President Donald Trump’s wider plan to check essentially all types of immigration. In June, he issued an order temporarily suspending the H-1B program until the year’s end.

Judge throws out Trump rules limiting skilled-worker visas

The US Chamber of Commerce and universities including the California Institute of Technology sued in California. Arguing there wasn’t satisfactory notification or time for the public to comment on the changes. Additionally, they said the guidelines, especially related to requiring a prevailing wage for visa-holders. Would have a drastic effect on new recruits and sever the employment relationship of a huge number of existing employees in the United States.

The University of Utah cited an example where an H-1B employee looking for renewal was paid an $80,000 compensation. Yet would need to be paid $208,000 under the new guideline.

The judge agreed that the federal government didn’t make a case for executing the rules under the Administrative Procedure Act. Which makes organizations responsible to the public by requiring a detailed process for enacting regulations.

Litigants neglected to show there was good cause dispense with the rational and thoughtful discourse that is provided by the APA’s notification and comment requirements, White wrote.

The rule on wages, proposed by the Department of Labor, took effect in October, while the Homeland Security rule on occupations and different issues should produce results Monday. It also would have placed limits on “offsite” firms that employ and contract out H-1B visa holders to different organizations; their visas would have been restricted to each year at a time.

[Indians traveling to the US for business or pleasure exempt from proposed visa bonds]

“This is an incredibly important decision to protect the H-1B program,” said lawyer Paul Hughes, who represented the plaintiffs. “This ruling enables those people to maintain their jobs and their families in the United States.”

The Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that the ruling has numerous organizations across different industries breathing a huge sign of help, with the visa changes having the capacity to be incredibly disruptive to the operations of many businesses.

Conclusion

Messages left Tuesday for representatives with the Labor and Homeland Security departments weren’t directly returned.

The wage rule has provoked at least two other federal lawsuits in New Jersey and Washington, DC.

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