Rajiv's Comments in the News - 60 Days or Less: H-1B Workers Face Deportation Despite Legal Status

Published by: Tfipost.com -  July 24, 2025

https://tinyurl.com/4d5b3dhj

Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:

According to Rajiv S. Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com, USCIS is disregarding a policy memo dated February 28, which clearly states that NTAs should only be issued after an unfavorable decision on a visa-related application and when the individual is no longer lawfully present.

‘This contradicts USCIS’s own guidance,’ Khanna said. ‘If a person has a properly filed, non-frivolous application pending such as a change of status to a visitor visa, they should legally be considered in ‘authorized stay’ and not subject to removal.’

Khanna cited a recent example that underscores this policy breach: an H-1B worker, laid off but still within the 60-day grace period, filed a timely I-539 application to switch to a B-2 visitor visa. Before USCIS had issued any decision on that request, the worker received an NTA. This action, attorneys say, treats the individual as unlawfully present despite full legal compliance.

‘The notice points to the date the employer withdrew the H-1B sponsorship and claims the worker overstayed,’ said Khanna. ‘But this completely ignores the fact that a pending status change application puts them in authorized stay.’‘We’re seeing compliant visa holders, many of whom have lived and worked in the U.S. for years; suddenly face the threat of removal, simply because USCIS is misapplying its own framework,’ Khanna warned.



For more information on this news, please see the attachment.