Lawsuit filed challenging arbitrary rejections of H-1B petitions for not having October 1st as the start date.

March 12, 2021
×Close
A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of seven U.S. employers whose H-1B petitions have been unlawfully rejected, challenges U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) arbitrary and capricious refusal to accept timely and properly filed H-1B petitions which are subject to the annual statutory cap on H-1B visa numbers allocated each year. USCIS arbitrarily rejected H-1B petitions filed after October 1 simply because the H-1B worker’s intended employment start date—naturally—also fell after October 1. Based on this timeline, USCIS created an absurd choice: foreign workers needed to start on October 1 (and not a day later), or the U.S. employer had to misrepresent the intended employment start-date by “back-dating” the petition. USCIS has not rejected these petitions across the board—some with an employment start date after October 1 have been accepted without issue. There is no law, regulation or form instruction that require an employer to specify only an October 1 start date in the H-1B petition. The lawsuit was filed in the federal district court for the District of Massachusetts by the American Immigration Council, and the law firms Mintz Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, PC; Joseph & Hall, PC; Meyner and Landis LLP; Barnes & Thornburg LLP; and Driggs Immigration Law. [reported by AIC]
Upcoming Webinars
VIEW ALL

Related News

VIEW ALL
USCIS Will Email Notifications to H-2A Petitioners, Use Pre-Paid Mailers to Send Requests for Evidence

Beginning today, Jan. 22, 2018, USCIS will email notifications of receipt and approval to H-2A (temporary agricultural worker) petitioners who fileForm I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. Also starting today, USCIS will use pre-paid mailers provided by H-2A petitioners to send requests for evidence (RFE) if issued in a case. These process changes apply only […]

USCIS Announces Countries Eligible for the H-2A and H-2B Visa Programs

USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of State, have published the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to receive H-2A and H‑2B visas in 2018 The notice listing the eligible countries was published on Jan. 18, 2018, in the Federal Register. For 2018, Secretary of Homeland Security […]

USCIS Expands Credit Card Payment Option for Fees

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will now accept credit card payments for filing most of its forms. The new payment option is available for the 41 fee-based forms processed at USCIS Lockbox facilities. To pay by Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover, applicants will need to use Form […]