USCIS rolls out e- registration for H-1B visa
The US has completed implementation of H-1B electronic registration process for the 2021 cap season and the petitions for the most sought after work visa among Indian IT professionals will be accepted from April 1, 2020, the country's immigration agency has announced.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows the US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency mandated with task of approving such applications, on Friday announced that it had completed the process to implement the H1B electronic registration process for the 2021 cap season.
The companies applying for H-1B visas for foreign workers for the fiscal year 2021 would have to register online and pay a processing fee of $10.
The USCIS would start accepting the H-1B petitions from April 1, 2020, for the next fiscal year.
“The electronic registration process will dramatically streamline processing by reducing paperwork and data exchange, and will provide an overall cost savings to petitioning employers," the USCIS said.
Under this new process, employers seeking H-1B workers subject to the cap, or their authorised representatives, will complete a registration process that requires only basic information about their company and each requested worker.
The USCIS will open an initial registration period from March 1 to March 20, 2020. The H-1B random selection process, if needed, will then be run on those electronic registrations. Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, according to a media report.
"By streamlining the H-1B cap selection process with a new electronic registration system, USCIS is creating cost savings and efficiencies for petitioners and the agency, as only those selected will now be required to submit a full petition," said USCIS Deputy Director Mark Koumans.
An estimated 63.36 per cent votes were cast on Saturday in the second phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections where one person was killed in firing by security personnel near a polling booth.
The voting figure is likely to go up as reports from remote places are awaited.
Polling in the 20 constituencies had begun at 7 am amid tight security. It ended at 3 pm in 18 of them while in the rest two — Jamshedpur (East) and Jamshedpur (West) — the polling ended at 5 pm, Election Commission sources said.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das was in the fray in Jamshedpur (East). Jharkhand Additional Director General of Police Murari Lal Meena said the man was killed when personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) fired on the assailants near booth number 36 in Sisai constituency for trying to snatch their arms.
Two persons who were injured in the incident were admitted to hospital, said Meena, who is also the nodal officer for assembly electionrelated security measures.
Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer Vinay Kumar Choubey said the incident is being probed and polling in the booth had been suspended.
The companies applying for H-1B visas for foreign workers for the fiscal year 2021 would have to register online and pay a processing fee of $10