The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Sibitalent Corp., a Texas-based IT staffing firm, accusing it of refusing to refer an American job seeker for a Mountain View business data analyst position because he did not hold an H-1B visa. The lawsuit alleges a Sibitalent recruiter labeled the opening “ONLY H-1B” in large font, then cut off communication after the applicant questioned whether that requirement was legal.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the complaint Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, according to Mountain View Voice. Sibitalent is described in the filing as a Texas-based employment agency that specializes in recruiting information technology staff. The name of the Mountain View company at the center of the posting was not disclosed, and the EEOC has not accused that company of any wrongdoing.
According to The Dallas Morning News, a Sibitalent recruiter cold-emailed the applicant in July 2025 about the California-based role, with the “Only H-1B” notice highlighted prominently in the message. When the applicant pushed back and asked whether that specification was legal, the recruiter reportedly replied with a one-word “yeah” and offered no further explanation.
Recruiter Allegedly Went Silent, Then Referred Other Candidates
The Sibitalent recruiter allegedly stopped communicating with the applicant altogether and refused to refer him for the job after he challenged the legality of the visa requirement, per the Mountain View Voice report. The EEOC further alleges that Sibitalent went on to refer two foreign candidates, of Indian and Nepali origin, for the same position.
The lawsuit accuses Sibitalent of national-origin discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a claim detailed by Bloomberg Law in its coverage of the filing. Under federal law, specifically 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, it is unlawful for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer an individual for employment, or otherwise discriminate against that individual, because of national origin. EEOC enforcement guidance also notes that Title VII can provide a defense where job requirements are imposed in the interest of national security under a federal statute or executive order, though the commission has not indicated that defense applies here.
EEOC Chair Points to Broader Enforcement Push
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said employers and employment agencies cannot use visa requirements to shut qualified Americans out of job opportunities, warning against “unjustified visa requirements” used as a proxy for national-origin discrimination, according to the Mountain View Voice report. She said the commission would vigorously enforce federal law. An EEOC spokesperson declined to comment further because the case is ongoing, and a Sibitalent employee also declined to comment when reached.
The EEOC was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin — protections that apply to both immigrants and American workers. The commission made enforcement against national-origin discrimination targeting American workers a specific priority in 2025, the same year the underlying incident in this case allegedly occurred.
Case Lands Amid Tightening H-1B Rules
The lawsuit arrives as the Trump administration has imposed a series of restrictions on the H-1B program, arguing it depresses wages and displaces American workers. Trump restricted entry for some new H-1B visa holders unless employers paid a $100,000 fee, a policy later renewed, and on September 18 he signed an executive order requiring visa-granting agencies to weigh whether an employer seeking a visa had recently laid off workers.
H-1B visas are employer-sponsored, non-immigrant temporary visas that allow U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialized jobs. More than 328,000 were issued nationwide in fiscal year 2025, down from 442,000 three years earlier, per the same Mountain View Voice report. Apple, Google and Meta were the California employers with the most H-1B beneficiaries in fiscal year 2026, the outlet noted, citing federal data covering the period from October 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
The cap figures are described differently across sources: the Mountain View Voice report says the United States has capped new H-1B visas at 85,000 per year for decades, while the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services describes a 65,000 regular annual cap and up to 6,800 visas set aside separately for the H-1B1 program.
What H-1B approval counts measure
The annual cap and yearly approval totals measure different things. Pew Research Center says the cap for approvals for new employment includes 65,000 regular slots and 20,000 reserved for foreign workers with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. Nearly 400,000 H-1B applications were approved in fiscal year 2024, most of them renewals rather than applications for new employment, so that total should not be read as the number of new-employment approvals subject to the cap.
A Program at the Center of a National Debate
A separate federal case involved allegations that OpenAI preferred workers holding temporary employment visas over American workers. The Department of Justice reached a $3.2 million settlement with the company, according to the Mountain View Voice report.
The broader debate concerns the effects of the program on workers and employers. Economic research cited in the Mountain View Voice report suggests H-1B workers earn less than comparable domestic workers, potentially allowing companies to save on labor costs. A Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond brief describes supporters’ view that the program contributes to U.S. innovation and productivity, particularly in technology, while critics argue that some H-1B holders fill jobs domestic workers could do.
