Professional staffing firms that hire foreign workers through the H-1B visa program, often for information technology or engineering jobs, have long struggled with the onerous evidentiary requirements that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services imposed to obtain approval for an H-1B visa. In October 2018, ITServe Alliance—an association of IT services, staffing, and consulting organizations—filed a lawsuit against USCIS challenging the USCIS memoranda that established authorization for these requests and required extensive documentation to prove that a valid employer–employee relationship existed with the staffing firm (rather than with the end client).

A year and a half after filing, in March 2020, the U.S. District Court agreed with ITServe Alliance that the policy memorandum “Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites” (known as the “2018 Contracts Memo”) was invalid, stating that there were multiple ways provided in the regulation for demonstrating an employer–employee relationship. Rather than appeal this ruling, USCIS decided to settle the case in May 2020, agreeing to make several important concessions.

There have already been some positive results from the implementation of this critical court decision and settlement. H-1B filings are regularly getting approved for a full three years, rather than shortened end dates of six months or one year to mirror end dates on statements of work. This change will save professional staffing firms tens of thousands of dollars per year by not requiring them to file for H-1B visa extensions six months or a year after filing the first petition.