Washington/New Delhi: The US on Thursday announced rules that will change its H-1B cap selection process, amend current lottery procedures, and prioritize wages to protect the economic interests of US workers.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the rules will ensure the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the temporary employment programme.
Modifying the H-1B cap selection process will incentivize employers to offer higher pay, and petition for higher-skilled positions, while establishing a more certain path for businesses to achieve personnel needs and remain globally competitive, the immigration authority said.
“The H-1B temporary visa programme has been exploited and abused by employers primarily seeking to fill entry-level positions and reduce overall business costs,” said USCIS deputy director for policy Joseph Edlow.
“The current H-1B random selection process makes it difficult for businesses to plan their hiring, fails to leverage the programme to compete for the best and brightest international workforce, and has predominately resulted in the annual influx of foreign labour placed in low-wage positions at the expense of US workers,” Edlow said.
This effort will only affect H-1B registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) submitted by prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
It will be implemented for both H-1B regular cap and H-1B advanced degree exemption, but it will not change the order of selection between the two as established by the H-1B registration final rule.
New Delhi, meanwhile, said on Friday that it is engaged with Washington for increased predictability in the visa regime to minimise inconvenience to Indians in the US or those proposing to travel there.
Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online meeting with the media, “We are engaged with the US government for increased predictability in the visa regime and to minimise inconvenience to Indian nationals in the US or those proposing to travel to the US for bonafide reasons, including the movement of Indian professionals,” he said.
The US recognizes skilled Indian professionals have contributed to the growth of that economy and helped retain its competitive edge and innovation advantage, Srivastava said.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that lets US firms employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that need 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 next H-1B visa filing season is slated to start on 1 April.
Photo courtesy: Nick YoungsonCC BY-SA 3.0Alpha Stock Images/Creative Commons