ITServe Alliance, a non-profit trade organization of over 1,000 IT services companies, has filed a lawsuit against USCIS. In their lawsuit, ITServe demands justice for USCIS’s overreach and abuse of power with the H-1B program. USCIS has recently begun a practice of approving H-1B petitions for shorter than three years durations. These petitions are often valid for only months or days at a time, and some cases are expired by the time the approval is received. ITServe lawsuit against USCIS alleges that USCIS has no authority to misinterpret the existing regulations and shorten the approval durations. In fact, the United States Congress has specifically granted power to the Department of Labor and DOL’s regulations grant three year approvals. As an additional matter, this lawsuit alleges that the itinerary requirement put forth by USCIS is also unlawful.
This is the second lawsuit filed by ITServe against USCIS this for their overreach and abuse of power. In the first lawsuit filed in July 2018, ITServe successfully demanded USCIS to remove language from their website prohibiting F-1 STEM OPT students working at the third part client locations.
ITServe’s national president for 2018, Gopi Kandukuri said “USCIS has been making arbitrary rules and memos for over eight years, it’s our top priority to set things right and hold USCIS accountable to follow the regulations set by the Unites States Congress.” Referring to the recent spate of H-1B denials that ITServe members received, Mr. Kandukuri added, “our members are tired of receiving random denials for no reason and the new battlefield for us is the federal courthouse and not USCIS service centers.”