An association representing information technology service providers is suing the federal government to ease restrictions on work visas imposed by the Trump administration.

The ITServe Alliance filed suit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Oct. 11 for implementing a series of changes making H-1B work visas harder to obtain, the news site Quartz reported. Trump administration officials have lowered the number of work visas available, toughened the criteria for obtaining the documents and proposed suspending work permits for spouses of some visa holders.

The alliance is an Irving, Texas-based trade group with more than 1,000 members, many of which have hired H-1B visa holders. Nearly all the association's founding members are of Indian origin, and most visa holders come from India, Quartz noted.

"Like every employer in the IT industry, ITServe members have difficulty hiring enough US workers to meet the demand," Gopi Kandukuri, president of the alliance's executive board, said in a statement. "Our members seek H-1B visas to fill the gap between the supply and demand for IT professionals in these specialized fields."

The ITServe Alliance previously sued the government in July for the Trump administration's decision to restrict foreign workers to those who operate only on their employers' premises. The most recent lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for D.C. http://bit.ly/2NG57SN

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