Tech workers lose H-1B case

The US Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled against the tech workers who have been fighting a federal decision to allow foreign students to work on a student visa from one year to 29 months, according to a news report in Computer World.

The Programmers Guild and others fighting the student visa extension argued that the extension was a kind of backdoor H-1B increase that intensifies competition in the labour market. This in turn hurt wages and job prospects of US workers.

The decision in the case, however, is said to have been made on technical issues and not on merit. In 2008, the US District Court was reportedly asked in a lawsuit to issue a preliminary injunction to block the student visa extension. However, the Judge Faith Hochberg ruled that the opponents did not have legal standing to bring the case since they weren't directly affected by the extension.
The appellate court, in its decision dated July 17, affirmed the lower court's decision.

The student visa extension was approved during President Bush's administration and subsequently backed by President Obama. The high demand for H-1B visas made the Bush administration extend the visa in 2008. The concern then is said to be that students failing to get a visa would return.

However, the recession in the country has changed that. Of the 85,000 visas available under the cap, 20,000 still remain, unlike 2008, when it took just a few days for the entire cap to get filled.