America proposes big changes to H-1B visa Aspirants with US Masters degree have brighter prospects

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Washington, Dec. 1: The Trump Administration on Friday proposed major changes to the H-1B application process, including a new rule requiring companies to electronically register their petitions in advance, aimed at awarding this popular American work visa to the most skilled and highest paid foreign workers.

The H-1B visa, popular among Indian IT companies and professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Under the new proposed merit-based rule, a notice for which was issued on Friday, companies employing foreign workers on the

H-1B visa — under the Congressional mandated annual caps — would first have to electronically register with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period.

The H-1B visa has numerical limit cap of

65,000 visas each fiscal year as mandated by the Congress. The first 20,000 ■ Firms employing foreign workers on the H1B visa would first have to electronically register with the USCIS during a designated registration period.

petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the cap.

Under the new rule, the USCIS would also reverse the order by which it selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption.

This is likely to increase the number of foreign workers with a master’s or higher degree from a US institution of higher education to be selected for an H-1B cap number. As such the proposed rule will introduce a more meritorious

■ The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of those with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the 65,000 visa cap

■ The USCIS will reverse the order by which it selects

H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption.

selection of beneficiaries, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.

The DHS said public comments on the proposed rule may be submitted starting December 3, when the proposed rule publishes in the Federal Register, and must be received on or before January 2.

“Currently, in years when the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption are both reached within the first five days that H-1B cap petitions may be filed, the advanced degree exemption is selected prior to the H-1B cap. “The proposed rule would reverse the selection order and count all registrations or petitions towards the number projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap first,” the DHS said.

Once a sufficient number of registrations are selected for H-1B cap, the USCIS would then select registrations or petitions towards the advanced degree exemption.

“This proposed change will increase the chances that beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a US institution of higher education would be selected under the H-1B cap and that H-1B visas would be awarded to the most-skilled beneficiaries,” it said.

The proposed process would result in an estimated increase of up to 16 per cent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected H1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a US institution of higher education, the DHS said. The proposed rule will help alleviate massive administrative burdens on the USCIS. — PTI