Judge Blocks Works Visa Ban

A U.S. federal judge has preliminarily lifted President Trump’s June 2020 visa ban, which has temporarily suspended the U.S. entry of high-skilled foreign nationals, multinational executives/managers, foreign non-agricultural workers, and international trainees on H-1B, H-2B, L-1, and J-1 visas. The court’s ruling, however, only applies to the organizations that brought this lawsuit against the Trump administration, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Foundation, Technology Net (TechNet), and Intrax, Inc, and groups representing tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon. While the court’s injunction does not apply nationwide, members of these organizations include hundreds of thousands of American businesses of all sizes from a variety of employment sectors.

The Judge in this case found that President Trump did not have authority to suspend these work visas categories, explaining that the President is not authorized to "eviscerate portions of the statute" enacted by Congress to create these visa programs. The Judge further explained that the President’s executive order "by its explicit terms, rewrites the carefully delineated balance between protecting American workers and the need of American businesses to staff their operations with skilled, specialized, and temporary workers."

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will be releasing guidance in response to the ruling. As always, we will continue to monitor the situation. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.