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August 08, 2008, 03:49 PM ET
Tech Workers' Complaint About Longer Student Visas Is Rejected
Bad news for technology workers trying to block student-visa extensions this week. A U.S. district court judge in New Jersey rejected an attempt by the Programmers Guild and other groups to stop the government from extending the visas from one year to 29 months.
Computerworld reports that the guild and fellow litigants had asked for an injunction, arguing that the extension would hurt U.S. workers because it would lead to more foreign students getting H-1B visas and competing for technology jobs.
But U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg denied the request, saying that opponents could not show they had been directly hurt by the visa extension, which was approved earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Instead of alleging concrete injury, plaintiffs assert a generalized grievance with a particular government policy,” the judge wrote.
The Programmers Guild had argued that members “will experience further job displacement, denials of job opportunities, wage depression and increase[d] job competition by a DHS estimate of 12,000 to 30,000 foreign workers.” But the judge wrote that the plaintiffs had not shown they would suffer any more injury than any other part of the general public. —Josh Fischman
Categories: Legal-Troubles
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