U.S. Employers Settle Lawsuit Challenging USCIS’ Unlawful Denial of H-1B Petitions

The parties in the class action lawsuit MadKudu Inc., et al. v. USCIS, et al., reached a settlement agreement that corrects the agency’s misinterpretation of the Occupational Outlook Handbook—a Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics publication profiling hundreds of occupations in the U.S. job market. Based on its prior interpretation of the OOH, USCIS erroneously determined that market research analysts did not qualify as a “specialty occupation.” The settlement agreement changes this agency error and provides U.S. employers who qualify the opportunity to request that USCIS reopen and re-adjudicate their denied H-1B petitions.

To be a class member, a U.S. employer must have filed a market research analyst H-1B petition during the time from January 1, 2019, through October 19, 2021. USCIS must have then denied the petition based on a finding that the OOH entry—as it existed on October 19— failed to establish that market research analyst is a “specialty occupation,” and, but for USCIS’ finding regarding the OOH entry, the H-1B petition would have been approved.

A copy of the settlement agreement is on the American Immigration Council website.