Reading Room Document
Payment of Back Wages to Alien Physicians Hired Under the H-1B Visa Program
The statute authorizing the H-1B visa program does not waive the federal government's sovereign immunity. Therefore, an administrative award of back wages to alien physicians hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs under the program is barred by sovereign immunity. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/482131/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit