Lawsuit Filed Against Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services by American Immigration Lawyers Association

The FOIA litigation centers on the government’s H-1B visa review and processing procedures. Since 2008, USCIS has implemented new, more stringent procedures for review and processing and has dramatically increased the frequency of unannounced worksite inspections – expected to reach 25,000 visits in 2010 alone – in connection with H-1B cases. Yet USCIS has kept secret the rules and guidelines related to the review process. The dearth of publicly available information on the government’s heightened scrutiny of H-1B applications makes it particularly difficult for businesses to anticipate and meet agency expectations during the application process.
“… the agency violated FOIA when it issued wholesale denials of AILA’s FOIA requests.”