If Indian H-1B visa holders find that their visa is about to be revoked just because their employer has been found to have indulged in fraud; and if they themselves are not involved in the same, they can now fight their own cases. A US district court’s ruling will now allow H-1B visa holders to challenge visa revocation due to fraud by their employer, and if they had no hand in it or were not notified.
This ruling followed when few Indians challenged the revocation of their H-1B visas by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Their employers had been issued a ‘notice of intention to revoke’ while these Indian employees had been deprived of an opportunity to present their side of the case or their arguments pertaining to the revocation, which happened without their involvement in any fraud.
One H-1B visa holder’s employer had reportedly been charged with visa fraud more than 15 years ago. His visa was revoked although he was no longer an employee of that fraudulent firm. The said employee’s argument was that USCIS had gone against the Administrative Procedure Act by not allowing him an opportunity to respond to the accusations or defend himself.
This isn’t the first time such a case has been filed against the US government. Last year, that is, in 2023 too, 70 Indians had filed a case when their visas had been unfairly denied merely because their employers had been found to have been involved in some fraud of which they weren’t even aware.
