Biden rescinds Trump memo denying H-1B visa to programmers

Pune: Following an adverse court verdict, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has rescinded another Trump era memo that had said computer programmers did not qualify as a H-1B speciality occupation.

On 16 December, the US Court of Appeals overturned the USCIS’ denial of an H-1B visa petition as arbitrary and capricious in the Innova Solutions Inc. v Baran case. Last week, the USCIS rescinded the memo and said it should not be applied to any new or pending visa requests.

Many H-1B visa petitions of Indian citizens are filed for computer programmer roles. In FY20, this was among the top 10 occupational roles for which an H-1B/H-1B1/E3 petition had been filed.