New H1-B visa lottery process: more paperwork for those who hire foreigners



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The Trump administration has introduced in H1-B a new set of strict provisions under which companies that recruit foreigners to work in the United States with the highly sought-after immigration option will have to pre-register electronically for the annual H-1B lottery. . They will then submit "full candidatures" for the winners. At present, petitions must be filed from the outset, with all the evidence to support, only to enter the lottery. The new policy will result in additional red tape in the already tedious process, including increased oversight, particularly for employers such as computer service companies. Approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the first step towards modifying the H-1B ranking mechanism.

What is the H-1B visa cap?

The visa cap H-1B, imposed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), is limited to 65,000 for the regular pool and 20,000 for the higher degree. Sponsoring employees must submit applications in the first week of April and in the days following the quota, whereby a random lottery system is adopted.

Why the decision affects India

Indians generally obtain more than 60% of H-1B visas. Technology companies such as Cognizant, TCS, Infosys and Wipro are among the best tenants. Experts say H1-B visa proposals pose a threat to IT companies' margins. These proposals could reduce the number of visas available to people without American higher degrees. Indian IT companies employ mainly people with a bachelor's degree. Some companies are already under pressure on their margins, as tougher visa regulations force them to hire US citizens and outsource work if they can not hire fast enough.

– One of the points concerned the electronic registration, in order to allow the USCIS to "more effectively manage the process of admitting and selecting H-1B applications".

– Then comes the publication of the draft proposal in the Federal Register and the receipt and review of public reactions, process that can take three to six months. The proposal is then finalized. David H Nachman, General Counsel at NPZ Law Group, explains the fear of moving to the Time of the economy.

"The implementation of the pre-registration program and the new information requested in form ETA 9035 (work certification form), which entered into force on 19 November, may be misused as the" H-1B fair lottery and random "may The new labor certification form requires employers to indicate whether H-1B workers will be placed on third-party sites (clients), the number of workers at each site and the names. and addresses of their customers. "Available datasets can be filtered to select only H-1B petitions that do not require third-party placements. Or select petitions from corporate sponsors that have only a limited or lesser number of foreign employees.

This could lead to a discriminatory process for choosing companies to obtain H-1B visas, "says Nachman. "Another fall agenda item indicated that appropriate reforms would be introduced to ensure that H-1B visas are granted to the highest-skilled or highest-paid employees and to increase the likelihood of selection of incumbents. of an American master's degree. Pre-registration might also allow that, "says an immigration expert from a technology company.

The draft plan is confidential for the moment. However, the USCIS presented a similar proposal in 2011, which could serve as a model for the future regulation of the agency:

Initial pre-registration period: The pre-registration period could be as usual in April.

Lottery selection of caps: According to an American immigration firm Fragomen, it is expected that USCIS will retain the Ceiling Lottery System and use the lottery to select H1-B petitions that may be filed. Upon completion of the pre-registration period, the USCIS would launch the captain's standard selection and captain's lotteries and select enough entries to reach the 85,000-unit H1-B quota. The agency could propose changes to how cases are selected in lotteries and how cases are counted in the annual quota.

Period of filing of the petition: Complete applications and supporting evidence H-1B will only be submitted for selected lottery entries.

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