Lawsuit filed against Biden administration for proposal to base H-1B selection on wages

Five non-profit organisations and businesses have filed a lawsuit against the Joe Biden administration for an H-1B visa selection process that would prioritise high-waged applicants. The petitioners called the move 'disastrous' and filed a lawsuit on Monday in a US District Court.

"This final rule unlawfully makes the H-1B visa selection process dependent on wage level and unlawfully gives priority for lottery selection to those H-1B applicants who are paid the highest wages. This rule will foreclose eligible H-1B workers who are not paid at the highest wage levels, including plaintiffs in this matter," stated the petition.

Greg Siskind of Siskind Susser PC who is representing one of the petitioners said that the higher wage requirement would create a system where non-profits would be unable to compete for talent. He said that the rule would make it extremely difficult for graduating students and medical residents to qualify for H-1B visas. "This rule may have sounded good to the people who came up with the idea, but it will cause disastrous collateral damage," he said, according to a report in Economic Times.

"This rule has been unlawful since its inception under the (previous Donald) Trump administration and promulgation under former DHS official Chad Wolf," said Jesse Bless, Director of Federal Litigation at American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Bless said that district courts have repeatedly and unanimously ruled that US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting secretary Chad Wolf did not have the authority to change immigration policy. Even if he did promulgate the H-18 rule, Bless said, it is 'substantively unlawful' as it contravenes US immigration law.

Wolf was fiercely loyal to Trump and regularly defended the administration's actions and decisions.

According to a recent study by the National Foundation for American Policy, the wage-based system will make it difficult for international students to get work permits in the US.

The rule was rolled out by the Trump administration and sought to give priority in the H-1B selection process to applications giving the highest wage level in respective occupation category as well as location. After his swearing-in, President Joe Biden said that his administration will delay the implementation of the rule till December 31.

Also read: Google, Apple, Amazon, 27 other tech giants push to protect work permits for H-1B spouses