H1B Visa Ban: Google, Amazon & 44 Tech Biggies Sue US Govt Over H1B Visa Ban

Recently, the US Chamber of Commerce and 12 other organizations and universities came together to file a lawsuit against the H-1B rules announced by the Trump administration in the Northern California court. 

Around 46 IT giants including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook and many universities such as Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have extended support for the lawsuit.

Read on to know more…

US Companies Might Have To Fire Multiple H-1B Workers Because of New H-1B Rules!

The new norms by the Trump administration have imposed an increase in the wages for highly skilled foreign workers and green card applicants and tightened the H-1B visa rules. 

H-1B visas are used by Indian IT companies to hire or transfer high-skilled immigrants workers in the US and is hence the most sought-after visa among Indian IT professionals. 

Around 5.83 lakh H-1B workers are currently working in the US. Over the next many years (beginning shortly, depending on when particular current visas expire), the new rules will result in companies terminating numerous H-1B employees.

Comprising this lawsuit filed by the US Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, a total of three lawsuits were filed in opposition to these rules. 

The American Immigration Council too has filed a supporting brief for the lawsuit.

The US Companies Might Have To Re-Locate Outside the USA Because of New H-1B Rules!

“The new DHS and DOL Rules will dramatically reduce U.S. businesses’ ability to hire these skilled foreign workers,” read the Amici Curiae filed by the companies. An Amici Curiae is a document filed by parties that are not a part of the lawsuit but intend to support the lawsuit by offering additional information. 

It added, “Finally, the new Rules will irreparably injure companies and the entire U.S. economy by forcing businesses to discharge current employees—disrupting ongoing projects and imposing significant costs, and in some cases forcing companies to transfer work to locations outside the United States.”

Under these new norms, if these companies have to replace the H-1B workers or move their operations to different locations, there will be a setback in the delivery of new products and services.

These companies have made notable investments in areas like research and development due to their capacity to hire H-1B workers and terminating these employees would incur huge expenses for these companies and disrupt their business.

The brief further added, “The costs and disruption imposed will be particularly burdensome because they would occur in the midst of a pandemic, when companies’ operations are already under tremendous stress.”