The US Federal Court of Appeals – known as the Ninth Circuit – recently ruled that H1B visas can be issued to computer programmers after confirming ‘speciality status’. In 2017, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had revoked speciality status for computer programmers, which made them eligible for H1B visas.
The appellate court has now deemed the USCIS’ decision ‘random and unstable.’ The Federal Court of Appeals’ ruling comes following a case concerning Innova Solutions, which was seeking to hire Indian national, Dilip Dodda, as a Programmer Analyst, but Dodda’s application for an H1B visa was refused.
Under current legislation, US employers looking to sponsor a H1B visa worker must confirm that the job role they are trying to fill requires ‘theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge.’
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This week, the Ninth Circuit resolves a novel question about continuing violations under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and invalidates an agency’s conclusion that computer programmers are not entitled to “specialty occupation” visas.
As a matter of first impression, the Court holds that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies to post-enactment misappropriation that began prior to enactment of that statute, but that the plaintiff’s trade secret protection here was extinguished by publication in a patent application.
Panel: Judges Wallace, Tashima, and Bade, with Judge Wallace writing the opinion.