US court rules against H-1B visa program changes, says administration's causes unjustified

Washington DC, December 02: Good news for Indian techs working in the United States, the US court has overturned the last two changes to the H-1B visa programme brought in by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

 

 

This comes after the US Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council, and others had sued the Department of Homeland Security arguing that the changes rushed new restrictions through without a proper public review process.

 

The changes applying to the H-1B visa program announced in October include imposing salary requirements on companies employing skilled overseas workers and limits on specialty occupations. Under the new rules, minimum wages for H-1B workers were set to rise by an average of 40 percent across job roles and locations, pricing them out of the market in several areas.

 

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in California said the government didn't follow transparency procedures and its contention that the changes were an emergency response to pandemic job losses didn’t hold water because the Trump administration has floated the idea for some time but only published the rules in October.

 

“The COVID-19 pandemic is an event beyond defendants’ control, yet it was within defendants’ control to take action earlier than they did,” White wrote.

 

White said in his ruling that the US did not demonstrate "that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic unemployment justified dispensing with the due deliberation that normally accompanies" making changes to the H-1B visa program.

 

This is a major win for our economy and for our ability to recover from the worst downturn in generations," said Bay Area Council chief executive Jim Wunderman. "The Bay Area and America must continue to be a place where anyone around the world can come to pursue their dream or dream job," he said.

 

Wunderman added that many thriving Northern California tech firms were founded by entrepreneurs who first came to the US on visas."H-1B workers fill an important need in our economy and provide immense benefits not only to the companies they work for but the communities where they live," Wunderman said.

 

"Closing the door to talent from around the world will drive those skills and the opportunities they create to other countries who are more welcoming. In the end, that means fewer US jobs." Wunderman said the rushed restrictions were part of what he called a concerted effort by the Trump administration to clamp down on all kinds of immigration.

 

The U.S. issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas each year in sectors including technology, engineering, and medicine. Usually, they’re issued for three years and renewable. Most of the nearly 600,000 H-1B visa holders in the U.S. are from India and China.