NEWARK (CN) - The Department of Homeland Security has illegally "invent(ed) a guest worker program" that allows students admitted under F-1 visas to work for 29 months, The Programmers Guild and computer professionals claim in Federal Court.
Plaintiffs challenge a regulation published in the Federal Register on April 8, "amending 8 CFR §§ 214, 274a to allow aliens admitted on F-1 student visas who have received degrees [in] mathematics, engineering, science, or technology to work in the United States for up to 29 months, 73 Fed. Reg. 18944-18956," the complaint states.
It adds: "The Defendants have used the regulatory process to invent a guest worker program under a statute that authorizes admission to the United States solely for the purpose of study. The purpose of this rule, as announced in the Federal Register, is to circumvent statutorily imposed limits on guest workers visas."
Among the three corporate and 10 individual plaintiffs are an unemployed computer programmer from Illinois, a computer programmer from Sacramento who has to work out of state at a low rate of pay "due to the increased number of alien workers in the job market," an unemployed professional engineer from Florida, and a "Ph.D. scientist" from Virginia who works as an "entry-level computer programmer."
Plaintiffs want enforcement of the rules change enjoined. They are represented by John Miani of Summit, N.J.
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