IT companies file lawsuit against US immigration agency over shorter duration of H1B visas
Washington, Oct 16 : An IT advocacy group representing more than 1,000 small IT companies mostly run by Indian-Americans has filed a lawsuit against the US immigration agency for issuing H-1B visas for shorter than three years durations.
The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
These visas are typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker.
Based out of Dallas in Texas, the ITServe Alliance in its 43-page lawsuit filed last week alleged that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has recently begun a practice of approving H-1B petitions for shorter than three years durations.
"These petitions are often valid for only months or days at a time, and some cases are expired by the time the approval is received," it said.
ITServe lawsuit against the USCIS alleges that the agency has no authority to misinterpret the existing regulations and shorten the approval durations.
In fact, the United States Congress has specifically granted power to the Department of Labor and DOL's regulations grant three-year approvals, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleges that the itinerary requirement put forth by the USCIS is also unlawful.
This is the second lawsuit filed by ITServe against USCIS. In the first lawsuit filed in July 2018, ITServe demanded USCIS to remove language from their website prohibiting F-1 STEM OPT students working at the third part client locations.
"The USCIS has been making arbitrary rules and memos for over eight years, it's our top priority to set things right and hold USCIS accountable to follow the regulations set by the United States Congress," said ITServe's national president for 2018, Gopi Kandukuri.
Referring to the recent spate of H-1B denials that ITServe members received, Kandukuri added members of ITServe Alliance are tired of receiving random denials for no reason.
"The new battlefield for us is the federal courthouse and not USCIS service centers, he said.
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Two pilots killed in crash of Sukhoi-30 fighter jet in Assam
Guwahati (PTI): Two pilots were killed in the crash of a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, the Indian Air Force said here on Friday.
The jet, which was on a training mission, crashed approximately 60 km from Jorhat air base, from where it had taken off on Thursday evening.
“IAF acknowledges the loss of Sqn Ldr Anuj and Flt Lt Purvesh Duragkar, who sustained fatal injuries in the Su-30 crash. All personnel of the IAF express sincere condolences and stand firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief,” the IAF said in a post on X.
A defence spokesperson said in Guwahati that the debris of the aircraft was located early on Friday.
The IAF search and rescue team, assisted by civil and police administration and villagers, had trekked to the site and located the debris around 1 am, the official told PTI.
