The Trump administration will propose major changes in H-1B visas

The Trump administration has announced plans to "revise" the definition of jobs and specialties in H-1B visas by January, a decision that will have a negative impact on Indian IT companies in the United States and small and medium sized contracts. mainly owned by Americans of Indian origin.

The H-1B visa, the most sought after Indian IT professionals, is a nonimmigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialized professions requiring theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday that the US Department of Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) was planning to submit its new proposal by January 2019.

DHS said it also proposed to remove from its regulation some H-4 spouses of non-immigrants H-1B as a category of aliens eligible for an employment authorization.

The decision to end the rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders who have a work permit.

H-4 visas are issued by the USCIS to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21) of H-1B visa holders.

DHS said it will "propose to revise the definition of specialized occupation" in order to put more emphasis on obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals through the H program. -1B.

It will also "revise the definition" of employment and the employer-employee relationship to "better protect" American workers and wages, DHS said.

Such an initiative, which is part of the Trump administration's unified fall program, will have a negative impact on the operations of Indian IT companies in the United States and small and medium-sized contract companies in the Indian sector.

In addition, the DHS will propose additional requirements to ensure that employers pay an appropriate salary to H-1B visa holders, the administration said.

The H1-B visa is capped at 65,000 visas per year, in accordance with the Congress mandate. The first 20,000 applications filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a master's degree or a higher degree in the United States are exempt from the ceiling.

As a non-immigrant H-1B, the applicant can be admitted for up to three years. The time limit can be extended, but can not generally exceed six years.

DHS stated that it was also finalizing its provisional regulations governing applications filed on behalf of foreign workers, subject to the annual numerical limitations applicable to non-immigrant H-1B classification.

This rule prevents a person from filing duplicate applications on behalf of the same foreign temporary worker.

The rule also provides for adaptations for petitioners to create a more efficient filing process for H-1B petitions, subject to the annual numerical limitation.

Observing that the H-1B visa application often exceeded the numerical limit, DHS stated that it was considering setting up an electronic registration program for such applications.

This will allow the USCIS to more effectively manage the admissions and lottery process for these H-1B petitions, he said.

The Trump administration is reviewing the H-1B visa policy, which it says is being misused by companies to replace US workers.

The administration has stated publicly and in its lawsuit that it wants to revoke the work permits granted to H4 visa holders, a large majority of whom are Americans of Indian descent and women.

This decision will have a major impact on Indian women, who are the main beneficiaries of the Obama era regime.

In his unified fall agenda, the EDS said that in his opinion, the abandonment of the current practice of granting an employment authorization dependent spouses H-4 would benefit some American workers.

He stated that the proposed rule would no longer allow H-4 workers to enter the labor market sooner.

DHS, which has already delayed sending the necessary notification three times this year, announced that it was about to remove work permits from H-4-dependent wives.

As of December 25, 2017, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services had approved 126,853 applications for employment authorization for H-4 visa holders.

These have all the approvals since May 2015, the year the rule was implemented. This number includes 90,946 initial approvals, 35,219 renewals and 688 lost card replacements.