District Court sets aside the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Labor interim final rules on H-1B

On December 1, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California set aside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interim final rule, Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program, and the Department of Labor (DOL) interim final rule, Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States. (Chamber of Commerce, et al., v. DHS, et al., 12/1/20).  These proposed rules, discussed in last month’s newsletter, noted “These rules are extraordinary: If left unchecked, they would sever the employment relationship of hundreds of thousands of existing employees in the United States, and they would virtually foreclose the hiring of new individuals via the H-1B program. They would also gut EB-2 and EB-3 immigrant visas, which provide for employment-based permanent residence in the United States.”