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Leaked memo from Amazon that warns existing H1B holders to avoid travel back into the USA after the September 21st deadline - their lawyers evaluated the new executive order as not just affecting new applications

Source: www.businessinsider.com/read-memos-s...

Here's a similar memo from Microsoft bsky.app/profile/rive...

The official USCIS Twitter account has confirmed that the new policy will NOT affect existing visa holders x.com/uscis/status...

CBP (Customs and Border Protection) have confirmed this doesn't affect existing visa holders too twitter.com/cbp/status/1...

I think this is all good news, but at the same time it's bizarre that there does not seem to be a legal basis for this?

The legality only hinges on one rule that says visa fees can only be about recovering costs and processing-related work, not more. Otherwise, implementation of all visa-related issues is under the executive. The congress only sets up a broad framework (category, number under that category etc).

This is not a visa fee though. They specifically tie it to allowing entry rather than to issuing a visa.

Yes, and hence even legal experts are unsure about how it could be challenged, and they are focusing on that one particular rule, which happens to be a law. Since the visa could be denied and not renewed without the 100,000 it could be interpreted as a fee, but it's unclear.