H1B Visa Restrictions: Hearing Concludes, Judgement Expected this month

The hearing on the second lawsuit seeking an overturn of ban on non-immigrant visas availed by engineers, senior executives, IT experts and other critical workers that the businesses employ has concluded in San Francisco Federal Court.

The plaintiffs were the US Chamber of Commerce with support from tech firms such as Facebook, Apple and Microsoft who  filed the lawsuits against the US President Donald Trump’s order banning entry of temporary workers into the country.

The first lawsuit filed in the District Court of Columbia was rejected by the judgement of Judge Amit P Mehta.

After being disappointed by the first judgment, the H-1B visa holders and their spouses are now pinning their hopes on the second lawsuit as it seeks help for all those who stranded overseas due to the visa ban.While some of them have been able to procure the visa approval after the recent relaxations, there are many who might not be allowed to enter the country.

During the hearing, Paul Hughes, who appeared for the plaintiff’s side, stressed that there is no evidence that these people arriving to  the US will harm the employment opportunities of US citizens.

According to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy, an immigration think tank, occupations in the tech sector that largely employs H-1B visa holders are not impacted due to COVID-19. The number of L-1 visa holders is low compared to that of H-1B. Hughes had also argued that these proclamations are impacting small businesses that depend on these workers, the Money Control reports.

It is expected that verdict would be pronounced in the coming days. However the date is not clear.

Almost 500,000 migrant professionals are employed in the US in the H-1B status.

On June 22, Trump had signed an order restricting the entry of H-1B and L-1 visa holders, who are employed in large numbers by these US firms.