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Good News To Techies: Trumps Ban On H-1B, L-1 Visas Lifted

A U.S. court restricted the Decree of President Donald Trump prohibiting the issuance of H-1B and L1 visas, which are collected mainly by professionals in information technology. This follows an appeal by organisations serving US businesses such as Apple , Google , Amazon and Walmart. Thousands of Indian nationals seeking US work permits are likely to benefit from the order. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California confirmed that the injunction is effective immediately before the trial or further orders from the court are completed. Judge White also directed the government not to participate in any activity resulting in the non-processing of visas in the affected categories, which would be available for processing and issuance if it were not for the proclamation.

In June, because of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump cited rising unemployment to impose a moratorium on non-immigrant visas until December. The Trump administration was sued over the ban by the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation, Technet, Intrax and the US Chamber of Commerce, representing thousands of businesses, including Facebook, Uber and Google. Companies such as Microsoft and Amazon, in addition to these partnerships, issued affidavits in support of the case explaining how the visa ban adversely affected them. "The judge held that, with respect to the jobs of foreign national workers, the President does not have unlimited power. This is a temporary victory, but for those claimants, it is still a victory. This does not, sadly, qualify as a national injunction. But, it gives hope for potential litigation," said Nandini Nair, Greenspoon Marder's immigration partner.

For firms that are members of the organisations that have filed the lawsuit, the latest order will apply. In recent years, US technology companies have been the largest recipients of H-1B visas, earning considerably more visas than Indian IT services firms. Indians form the largest nationality of holders of H-1B visas and obtained more than 70% of the H-1B visas issued in the 2018 financial year. For the fiscal year beginning October 1, the ban affected the issuance of 85,000 new H-1B visas. Judge White claimed in the order that the Proclamation exceeded Presidential authority.

"The argument for the preliminary injunction is valid. The court found that the President was seeking to amend the White House immigration rule, over compliance with the rule as it is established by the legislature," said Rajiv S Khanna, immigration.com's managing attorney. In addition, although the proclamation quoted unemployment figures for the early months of the pandemic, the Judge acknowledged that, "The pandemic-related unemployment statistics clearly indicate that unemployment is concentrated in service occupations and that a substantial number of work vacancies remain in the sector most impacted by the prohibition, computer operations requiring highly skilled workers."

How this injunction will be applied is uncertain, as visa processing has not yet fully resumed in many countries. In September, a Washington district court turned down an application for a preliminary injunction on the H-1B / H-4 visa ban filed by Wasden Banias, a law firm, on behalf of 169 Indians who were affected by it. Judge Amit Mehta said that, while denying the plea, the visa ban did not cause irreparable harm.

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