DOJ ruling lets firms post H-1B-only job ads, sparking backlash from U.S. workers

An administrative judge within the Justice Department’s Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer concluded that advertisements specifying “H-1B Workers Only” do not constitute a standalone violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act, limiting enforcement to cases where an American applicant can demonstrate rejection. Lawyer John Miano, who sued a Chicago consortium that promoted H-1B hiring, warned that the decision undermines U.S. workers and could require them to spend roughly $50,000 on investigations and court arguments.

He noted that Attorney General Todd Blanche could review and reverse the ruling, though the DOJ has not responded to inquiries. The judgment follows prior litigation against the Chicago H-1B Connect Coalition, which operated a job board targeting lower-wage foreign workers, and a recent $3.2 million penalty against OpenAI for discriminatory recruiting. Critics say the ruling will make it harder to police foreign-worker-only ads that push Americans out of entry-level tech positions.