Treez, Inc. v. United States Department of Homeland Security

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 TREEZ, INC., et al., Case No. 22-cv-07027-RS Plaintiffs, 11 v. ORDER OVERRULING OBJECTION TO DETERMINATION OF THE

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF MAGISTRATE JUDGE

HOMELAND SECURITY, et al.,

Defendants.

15 Plaintiffs Treez, Inc., and its employee, Ameya Pethe, bring this suit under the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), alleging defendants wrongfully denied Pethe’s H1-B visa petition. Treez is an enterprise cloud commerce platform that provides software solutions for use by its customers, including state-legal cannabis brands and retailers. In 2021, Treez petitioned USCIS for H-1B status for Pethe, a software developer from India, to work as its Director of Development Operations while residing in the state of Missouri. Although defendants approved Treez’s petition in January of 2022, they later denied an amended petition to change the location of Pethe’s employment because “the services…