World
H1B Visa: USCIS proposes Changes To H-1B Visa Lottery System
Companies looking to hire foreign workers to work in the US have to pre-register electronically for the annual H-1B lottery
The new H1B visa norms proposed by The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will reportedly require the companies looking to hire foreign workers to work in the US to pre-register electronically for the annual H-1B lottery. Around 85,000 applications are selected every year out of a larger pool of H-1B applications through the popular H-1B visa lottery system.
According to a new report coming from The Times of India, starting from April, which is usually the time when H-1B applications are submitted, companies will have to pre-register electronically for the annual H-1B lottery, and then file full-fledged applications also known as petitions on behalf of those who get the foreign work visa.
The currently H1B visa filing system requires the petitions to be filed upfront along with all supporting evidence, just for entry into the lottery. The proposed changes will benefit the companies, mainly IT service companies, who send their employees to work on client locations through this visa, as it will save administrative cost as well as time and paperwork for the sponsoring companies, i.e. those hiring foreign employees.
In other words, the new rule will spare companies the effort of preparing a complete petition for applicants that don’t get their visas approved in the visa lottery.
As per the TOI report, the US Office of Management and Budget, which is a unit of the US president’s executive office, has already approved the proposed changes. The new rules will likely give more power in the hands of the USCIS to who can work in America.
Notably, only 65,000 H-1B visas are allotted yearly under the regular cap with an additional 20,000 visas allotted to applicants having a master’s degree from US universities. The US agency has received 1.9 lakh H1B visa applications for 2018-19.
The draft proposal will be finalized and then published in the US Federal registry and put for public feedback before it gets finalized. This process may take another 3-6 months.
