Several Small IT Staffing Firms Challenge USCIS H-1b Visa Third-Party Worksite Policy Memorandum

Several IT staffing companies have sued DHS in New Jersey federal court, seeking to block implementation of a February 2018 USCIS H-1b policy memorandum requiring substantially more documentation of need where an employer’s seeks to assign H-1b workers to third-party client sites. The new policy requires, among other things, the employers provide copies of their customers’ contracts that account for the full three year term requested in the H-1b petition.

In their lawsuit, the staffing companies assert that USCIS lacks jurisdiction to define the term “employer,” and that the agency must conduct a public proceeding in order to adopt substantive policy changes of the scope imposed by the February memorandum.