Judge allows extension of student visas

A federal judge in New Jersey refused to stop a federal Department of Homeland Security policy extending foreign student visas from one year to 29 months. The Programmers Guild, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and other groups wanted to block the initiative, believing that the plan to aid foreign students would, in the end, hurt U.S. workers--particularly those in the IT field.

But the judge ruled that the groups could not show they had been directly hurt by the student visa extension. "Instead of alleging concrete injury, plaintiffs assert a generalized grievance with a particular government policy," the judge wrote.

Those favoring the policy maintain it was needed to give students more time to seek an H-1B visas--the program allowing foreigners to work in the U.S. The Programmers Guild argued that its members "will experience further job displacement, denials of job opportunities, wage depression'' and other harm.

For more on this legal battle:
 - see this Computerworld.com article