Despite losing in two lower courts, a group of tech workers are bringing their case to the US Supreme Court asking for a reverse in the federal decision that extended foreign students visas from one year to 29 months. The Programmers Guild, the American Engineering Association, Inc., the Bright Future Jobs lobbying group, and a number of individuals have brought their case to the Supreme Court asking the court to decide “whether American science, technology, engineering and mathematics workers can challenge changes to U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations, which allow aliens in those fields to work in the United States for an extended period of time after graduation as ‘foreign students.'” The group is basically challenging the passing of the STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension provision passed in 2008. Both the US District Court in New Jersey and the US Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled against the tech workers stating that the workers had no standing to bring the case as they were not directly affected by the decision to extend student’s OPT period. In its ruling, the Philadelphia court stated “the plaintiffs have failed to allege facts establishing that their injuries are ‘concrete and particularized’ or ‘actual or imminent’ rather than ‘conjectureal or hypothetical.”
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/tech-workers-take-h-1b-case-supreme-court-024
