US announces 1.5-year extension for some expiring immigrant work permits

 The extension period of up to 180 days will automatically be extended to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on the current EADs, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The Biden administration has announced that certain categories of immigrants, including those seeking green cards and spouses of H-1B visa holders, would be permitted to use their expired work permits for an additional 18 months, offering a reprieve to thousands of Indians working in this country and prevent further disruption for US employers. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the US.

The move announced by the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday will go into effect from May 4, 2022. The extension period of up to 180 days will automatically be extended to up to 540 days from the expiration date stated on the current Employment Authorisation Cards (EADs), the Department of Homeland Security said. “As USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) works to address the pending EAD caseloads, the agency has determined that the current 180-day automatic extension for employment authorisation is currently insufficient,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou.

174 Indians in US file lawsuit against Trump's proclamation on H-1B visa

Donald Trump, on June 22, suspended issuing of H-1B work visas till the end of the year

A group of 174 Indian nationals, including seven minors, has filed a lawsuit against the recent presidential proclamation on H-1B that would prevent them from entering the United States or a visa would not be issued to them. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at the US District Court in the District of Columbia issued summonses on Wednesday to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F Wolf, along with Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

ALSO READ: India expresses concern over US decision on foreign students' visas

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court on Tuesday.

"The proclamation 10052's H-1B/H-4 visa ban hurts the United States' economy, separates families and defies the Congress. While the two former points render it unseemly, the latter point renders it unlawful," said the lawsuit filed by lawyer Wasden Banias on behalf of the 174 Indian nationals. The lawsuit seeks an order declaring the presidential proclamation on issuing new H-1B or H4 visas or admitting new H-1B or H-4 visa holders as unlawful. It also urges the court to compel the Department of State to issue decisions on pending requests for H-1B and H-4 visas.

If elected, will revoke temporary suspension of H1-B visa: Joe Biden

The people on the company visa have built this country, Biden said when asked what his administration will do in the first 100 days of his presidency

Democratic presidential candidate and former US vice president Joe Biden has said that he will lift the temporary suspension on H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT professionals, if he wins the November presidential elections. On June 23, in a huge blow to Indian IT professionals eyeing the US job market, the Trump administration suspended the H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas until the end of 2020 to protect American workers in a crucial election year.

Biden, in a digital town hall meeting on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) issues organised by NBC News, praised the contribution of H-1B visa holders. He (US President Donald Trump) just ended H-1B visas the rest of this year. That will not be in my administration, Biden, 77, said responding to a question during the town hall. He was referring to the temporary suspension of the H-1B visas and other foreign work visas by Trump for the rest of the year.

 ALSO READ: Ban on H-1B visas short-sighted, threatens scholarly engagement: Harvard

The people on the company visa have built this country, Biden said when asked what his administration will do in the first 100 days of his presidency. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty 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. On day one, I’m going to send the legislative immigration reform bill to Congress to provide a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants who contribute so much to this country, including 1.7 million from the AAPI community.

Don't block work permits to spouses of H-1B holders: Trump admin to court

An H-4 visa is issued to the immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa-holders

In a major development, the Trump administration has urged a federal district court not to block an Obama-era rule allowing certain categories of spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States.In a submission before the US District Court in Washington this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the American technology workers, who had challenged the 2015 ruling on giving work permits to H-4 visa-holders, have not been irreparably harmed by such work authorisation.

An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to the immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa-holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals. It is normally issued to those who have already started the process of seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status. The DHS, in its submission on May 5, said the argument by Save Jobs USA on behalf of American technology workers "only speculates about potential economic harm to its members, based on five-year-old affidavits".

In its lawsuit filed in 2015, Save Jobs USA had argued that the regulation issued by the Obama administration to provide employment authorisation for certain H4 dependent spouses harms their members, who are American technology workers....Read More

Infosys fined $800,000 for worker misclassification, tax fraud in US

California initiated legal actions against Infosys after a compliant was filed by whistleblower Jack ‘Jay’ Palmer, a former Infosys employee

Infosys, India’s top IT major, has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle allegations of misclassification of foreign workers and tax fraud, officials announced Tuesday. Infosys will pay California $800,000 (nearly Rs 56 crore) to resolve allegations that between 2006 and 2017, approximately 500 Infosys employees were working in the State on Infosys-sponsored B-1 visas rather than H-1B visas, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said.

This misclassification resulted in Infosys avoiding California payroll taxes such as the unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and employment training taxes. H-1B visas also require employers to pay workers at the local prevailing wage, an official statement said. “Today’s settlement shows that attempting to evade California law doesn’t pay. Infosys brought in workers on the wrong visas in order to underpay them and avoid paying taxes. With this settlement, California has been made whole,” Becca said.

In the settlement, Infosys, however, denied the allegations and asserted of no wrongdoings. In 2017, Infosys had agreed to pay the State of New York $1 million to settle allegations of submitting wrong documents to federal authorities. The Californian settlement that was carried out in November was released to the media on Tuesday…

Bad news for US visa seekers: New rules could disqualify half of applicants

The rule is part of Republican Trump’s efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency

US President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled a sweeping rule on Monday that some experts say could cut legal immigration in half by denying visas and permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people for being too poor.

The long-anticipated rule, pushed by Donald Trump’s leading aide on immigration, Stephen Miller, takes effect Oct. 15. It would reject applicants for temporary or permanent visas if they fail to meet high enough income standards or if they receive public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing or Medicaid.

“The Trump administration is trying to bypass Congress and implement its own merit based-immigration system. It’s really a backdoor way of prohibiting low-income people from immigrating,” said Charles Wheeler of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.

The rule is part of Republican Trump’s efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency.After the rule was announced, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) said it would file a lawsuit to stop it from taking effect. The group’s executive director said the rule was racially motivated. The state attorneys general of California and New York threatened to sue…