Washington gives preference to workers trained in the United States for H1-B visas

The US Government has announced its intention to amend the H1-B visa program in order to give preference to the US Degraded Workers, a decision that could potentially have the effect of reducing visas for people educated elsewhere.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Friday that the proposed changes "would introduce a more meritorious selection of beneficiaries" and "help ensure that H-1B visas are granted to petition recipients". more qualified or better paid "under the" Buy American, Hire American "executive order of President Donald Trump.

H1-Bs are professional non-immigrant work visas and persons with special skills.

According to the US government, 75.6% of H1-B visas approved last year were granted to Indians.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that the US Immigration and Customs Service (USCIS), which handles immigration, would reverse the current order in which H1-B visa applicants are first selected through a lottery for visas for workers holding a master's degree and a doctorate from American universities, then those open to all.

Under the system approved by the US Congress, 65,000 H1-B visas are available for all qualified candidates and another 20,000 are reserved for holders of a US graduate degree.

Because of the much larger number of applicants than candidates. The government is organizing a lottery to select visa applicants.

Explaining the changes, an immigration expert, Doug Rand, said that under the current lottery process, USCIS randomly selects 20,000 graduates and places the rest in the wider pool and randomly chooses the other 65,000.

As part of the new proposal, the USCIS would first put everyone in the same pool and would choose the 65,000 open visas to one. Then, place all unselected American graduates in the pool. reserved for them and randomly choose the other 20,000.

The Department of Homeland Security stated that this decision would have the effect of "increasing the number of recipients with a master's degree or higher degree from an American higher education institution".

In reality, the changes might not result in a "huge change" because the USCIS predicts that a switch to the H-1B lottery order would result in about 3 percent. More of these visas are destined for senior US graduates, compared to the current system, said Rand, co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company that facilitates navigation in the immigration process.

Indians studying in the United States who could benefit from the proposed preferential treatment.

According to a recent report from the Department of State and the Institute of International Education, 95,651 Indians are currently studying in the United States, 75,390 of them are following practical training programs after the Graduation.

The planned amendments would also require companies to first electronically register their applications with USCIS rather than send them in full before selections are made.

The petition papers of the selected individuals will then have to be sent to the USCIS for review.

The amendments will not go into effect immediately. Rand said his company 's research showed that it usually took more than a year for an immigration regulation proposal to take effect.

million. Rand, who was previously deputy director of entrepreneurship at President Barack Obama 's White House and was working on immigration policy, the move to electronic registration was proposed because the only reason for the move was to move to the polls. USCIS wants to "deal with the potential problems of flooding the system with unworthy recordings".

He said that it was "a criticism that was often addressed to Indian outsourcing companies" and warned that "all companies will have to make sure to respect the news." registration requirements in order to avoid being penalized for having "played the game of the system" ".

million. Rand stated that the proposed changes had no impact on H-4 visa work permits. the wives of the H-1B workers or redefine the "specialized professions" to the extent that they fall under two separate regulations that are likely to be proposed in the coming months.

He added that he was waiting at the DHS will propose to revise the definition of specialized profession "in order to put more emphasis on obtaining the best and brightest nationals and "create additional requirements designed to ensure that employers pay an appropriate salary to H-1B visa holders".