Good News for IT Workers! US Judge Blocks Donald Trump's H-1B Visa Ban

As a sigh of relief to IT professionals, a US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s temporary visa ban on foreign workers, who totally rely on H-1B work visas.

According to a Times of India (ToI) report, on October 1, US District Judge Jeffrey White of Northern District of California said that Trump exceeded presidential authority in suspending new H-1B, L-1, and J-1 work visas, hereby he has asked the government to process visas with immediate effect.

“The preliminary injunction shall take effect immediately and shall remain in effect pending trial in this action or further order of this court,” the order said of the June 22 proclamation by Trump.

“The Congressional delegation of power does not provide the President with limitless power to deny visas to immigrants based on purely long-term economic concerns or purely domestic economic problem[s]. Such unrestricted authority would be contrary to Congress’ explicit delegation of powers in foreign affairs and national security,” the judge said.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit which was filed by the US Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and other trade organisations in July was supported by over 50 Silicon Valley tech companies like Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.

However, the judge demonstrated that the issuance of the proclamation exceeded presidential authority to deny visas in the context of domestic economic issues.

Further in the hearing, Judge White ordered that the defendants, and other involved “should not engage in any action that results in the non-processing or non-issuance of applications or petitions for visas in the H, J, and L categories which, but for Proclamation 10052, would be eligible for processing and issuance, with respect to the Plaintiffs and the members of the Plaintiff associations”.

This block on H-1B visa ban, is a huge relief for companies as well as employees, who  are overseas and are unable to return to the US. Meanwhile, this move will help visas to be processed and help those stuck in their home country, including Indians.

Talking about the benefits of H-1B and L-1 visa categories, Indians are major beneficiaries. Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney, posted in a tweet saying, “these associations represent thousands of employees. So effectively it means that the government will have to drop the ban enforcement unless an appeal court overturns it.”