US court turns down Trump-era changes to H-1B visa rules

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A US federal judge has turned down Trump-era changes to H-1B visa rules that were to deter US companies from replacing American workers with cheaper foreign labour.

Courthouse News Service, a nationwide news service for lawyers and the news media, reported that the rules restricting H-1B visas were found invalid because they were issued under a Department of Homeland Security acting secretary who was unlawfully appointed to the role.

Businesses and universities complained that the Trump administration's switch to the H-1B visa system from a lottery that selects applicants at random to one that prioritises higher-wage jobs would make it harder to hire and recruit highly skilled foreign workers and students.

The rules applied to tech industry workers as well as doctors, accountants, professors, scientists and architects. Senior US District Judge Jeffery White temporarily blocked the rules in December last year after a coalition of business groups and academic institutions led by the US Chamber of Commerce sued to stop them.

Judge White also last year halted a separate attempt by former President Donald Trump to suspend certain types of non-immigration work visas, finding he lacked authority to make those sweeping changes in a presidential proclamation. The Chamber of Commerce and its co-plaintiffs argued the rules violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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