On October 19, the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ joined forces with several other leading research universities to file a federal lawsuit against the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging \u201cfast tracked\u201d H-1B visa regulations announced on October 8 as unlawful. \u00a0These rules will make it much more difficult for universities and other employers to hire and retain skilled foreign employees to work in the U.S. under the H-1B visa program and some legal permanent resident status categories.<\/p>\n
The DOL rule was immediately effective on October 8, and the DHS Rule is rue is set to become effective December 7, 2020. \u00a0The Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ as a plaintiff is seeking an injunction to rescind them both. The lawsuit challenges the unnecessary \u201cfast tracked\u201d approval process of these rules that occurred without an appropriate notice and comment period, and also challenges the substance of the rules as arbitrary and capricious for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n
H-1B visas allow some of the world\u2019s most talented faculty, postdoctoral associates, and research scientists the opportunity to come to Rochester and other research universities to teach, conduct critical research, and practice medicine. The H-1B visa has traditionally been issued to highly skilled workers with expertise in one or more specialty fields\u2014often in STEM fields\u2014who want to come to the US to work temporarily.\u00a0 Narrowing eligibility for H-1B skilled employment visas can quickly cause an enormous loss of productivity, creativity, and innovation at research universities across the U.S.<\/p>\n
The \u201cDHS Rule,\u201d Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program,<\/em> makes sweeping changes to H-1B eligibility by tightening the category of individuals who will qualify, based on how an individual\u2019s area of study aligns with their future position. The University and the other plaintiffs believe the \u201cDOL Rule,\u201d Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States<\/em>, is designed to, in effect, abolish the entire H-1B system by raising the minimum wages employers must pay these visa holders to artificially high levels\u2014wages that vastly exceed what comparable domestic workers are paid.<\/p>\n The rules also apply to individuals who currently hold H-1B visas seeking to renew their status. Potentially tens of thousands of H-1B highly skilled workers would be ineligible to renew their visas and would be forced to leave the U.S.<\/p>\n The Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ has joined several other research universities in this lawsuit, including Cornell, Stanford, Caltech, USC, and the University of Utah. In addition to the academic institutions, numerous trade associations are plaintiffs, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Presidents\u2019 Alliance on Higher Education and Administration.<\/p>\n This lawsuit marks the second time in the past year that the URochester has participated in a legal challenge to proposed immigration regulations or rules that present significant hurdles for members of its international community to study or work in the U.S. In July, the University joined an amicus brief in support of the federal lawsuit that Harvard and MIT brought against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s proposal to restrict the majority of international students from taking online-only courses at U.S. colleges and universities during fall 2020 semester. On July 14, 2020, ICE withdrew its proposal, which was a major victory for international students currently studying at Rochester and all over the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New federal regulations would make it more difficult for universities and other employers to hire and retain skilled foreign employees to work in the US under H-1B and some legal permanent resident status categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":271122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19242],"class_list":["post-457922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-global-engagement"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n