Employer employee memo shot down by court

Some of us years back discussed how the controversial employer memo was illegal. Now court has shot down the memo


https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuarta.../#4a53b2cd5bf4

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to a settlement with the business group ITServe Alliance that overturns 10 years of policies restricting employers and H-1B visa holders. The settlement follows a pivotal March 10, 2020, District Court opinion that repudiated key USCIS actions and a May 20, 2020, judge’s opinion in Georgia that ruled against USCIS policies.


For many companies, the problems with USCIS began with the “Neufeld” memo issued on January 8, 2010. In that memo, USCIS asserted the authority to deny H-1B petitions based on a potentially restrictive understanding of what constituted an “employer-employee” relationship, including when an H-1B visa holder performed work at a customer’s location.

What a pleasant surprise GCQ. You must be close to getting your citizenship by now. It is good to see you still care!

Can you please lay this issue in simple terms. May new folks may not be familiar with the issue at all. What changed. And what this means.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gcq

Some of us years back discussed how the controversial employer memo was illegal. Now court has shot down the memo


https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuarta.../#4a53b2cd5bf4

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to a settlement with the business group ITServe Alliance that overturns 10 years of policies restricting employers and H-1B visa holders. The settlement follows a pivotal March 10, 2020, District Court opinion that repudiated key USCIS actions and a May 20, 2020, judge’s opinion in Georgia that ruled against USCIS policies.


For many companies, the problems with USCIS began with the “Neufeld” memo issued on January 8, 2010. In that memo, USCIS asserted the authority to deny H-1B petitions based on a potentially restrictive understanding of what constituted an “employer-employee” relationship, including when an H-1B visa holder performed work at a customer’s location.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by qesehmk

What a pleasant surprise GCQ. You must be close to getting your citizenship by now. It is good to see you still care!

Can you please lay this issue in simple terms. May new folks may not be familiar with the issue at all. What changed. And what this means.

---

Thanks Q. Nice to be back. Yes, close to getting citizenship. It is good to read the original link as the court ruling covers lot of H1B adjudication methods that USCIS was following.
The issue I was vocal about was the controversial USCIS employer-employee memo that came on Jan 8. USCIS used to deny lot of consulting company applications based on the pretext that employees working for consulting companies doesn't satisfy the employer-employee memo based on common law. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-i...ployee-4171936
USCIS wanted to prevent consulting companies from getting H1B. So USCIS memo said all the components of common law needs to be satisfied to qualify as employer-employee relationship. Common law doesn't say that. Many factors need to be considered to determine employee-employer relationship. That is one of the items this court ruling addresses. When this memo came out, I had arrived at the same analysis as courts did. Probably I was on IV forums then. Then as usual many folks who worked full time was very happy about this as some of them disliked consulting companies for various reasons. After 10 years court has struck down this memo as well as many other USCIS memos.