NEW YORK:
A US district court on Wednesday issued an unprecedented ruling stating that holders of H-1B visas will now have the right to take legal action if their visa is revoked due to multiple filings, charging their employer with fraud.
The court was hearing a case filed by 10 H-1B visa-holding Indians against the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for revoking their visas on the grounds of fraud or misrepresentation by their employers.
The complainants claim the USCIS violated procedural requirements by sending a “notice of intention to revoke (NOIR)” only to their employers and without giving them the chance to present facts or defend themselves.
The H-1B visa holders urged the court to order the USCIS to reconsider their applications and allow them to respond to any fraud allegations.
“This is an unprecedented ruling recognizing that beneficiaries of H-1B visas have a right to claim that USCIS must provide notice to them before revoking an H-1B visa,” TOI quoted the attorney who represented the complainants as saying.
In their lawsuit, the aggrieved H-1B visa holders sought two things. Firstly, they wanted any finding of fraud or misrepresentation against them to be removed. Secondly, they wanted the cap number to be restored.
While the government agreed to the first point and rejected the second, the judge denied the government’s attempt to dismiss the second point, the attorney said calling the verdict an “incredible win for the H-1B workers”.
The court case involved an H-1B visa holder, whose employer was found guilty of visa fraud over 15 years ago.
The USCIS sought to revoke the H-1B visas, even though the fraudulent company no longer employed him.
