He United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to modernize the so-called H-1B visa lottery, which allows professionals with specialized jobs to work. Know what it is about.
The H-1B program is intended to help American employers hire the foreign workers they need to meet their business needs and remain competitive in the global marketplace, while respecting all legal protections for American workers. These professionals must have a bachelor’s degree or a higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues the development and implementation of regulations that increase efficiency and improve processes for employers and workers as they navigate the immigration system”said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. He added that the government aims to “attract global talent, reduce undue burdens and prevent fraud and abuse in the immigration system”.
WHO IS GRANTED THE H-1B VISA?
H-1B visas are granted at the request of employers who need highly skilled foreign workers. This category of nonimmigrant visa applies to people who want to provide services in a specialized field, services of great merit and distinguished aptitudes for cooperative research or development projects with the Department of Defense (DOD) or as a high fashion model or for advertising with great merit or distinguished ability.
THE CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSED BY USCIS FOR THE H-1B VISA LOTTERY
The proposed regulationswill change the way USCIS conducts the selection process, to choose by individual beneficiaries instead of records“, indicates USCIS In a press release published by USCIS on October 20, 2023. Under the current selection process, an employer can submit a petition to hire a beneficiary in H-1B status only if its registration for that specific beneficiary was selected.
The proposal focuses on the beneficiary; any employer who submitted a registration for a selected beneficiary will receive a selection notification. In this way, the aim is to improve the probability that the registration is legitimate and thus significantly reduce or eliminate the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary, with the sole purpose of increasing the possibility of being selected. Below are four points of the proposed regulations to improve the H-1B program:
- Improved eligibility requirements: Revise the criteria for specialty jobs to ensure a direct relationship between the required areas of study and the duties of the position, and recognize that more than one area of study may be acceptable for a specialty job. A general baccalaureate is not enough to be eligible.
- Program Efficiency: Employers, as the case may be, must file an amended or new petition due to a change in the H-1B employee’s place of employment. “The proposed regulations also provide that adjudicators generally must refer to a prior determination when the underlying data has not changed at the time of a new submission.“, indicates the proposal.
- Benefits and flexibilities: Certain exemptions to the H-1B statutory cap will be extended for certain nonprofit entities or government research organizations and grantees that are not directly employed by an eligible organization. “DHS will also extend certain flexibilities for students with an F-1 visa when they wish to change their status to H-1B and establish new H-1B eligibility requirements for entrepreneurs.”.
- Integrity measures: The rule seeks to improve the registration of the H-1B selection process to reduce the potential for abuse and fraud, including prohibiting related entities from submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary. The regulations also codify USCIS’s authority to conduct administrative workplace visits: Refusal to require administrative workplace visits may result in a denial or revocation of the petition.
WHEN WILL THE CHANGES FOR THE H-1B VISA APPLY?
The NPRM rule published in the Federal Register on October 20 will receive 60 days of public comments, after which USCIS will prepare a final guidelines document.
HOW LONG DOES THE H-1B VISA LAST?
H-1B visas for specialized occupations are valid for three years, but USCIS You can extend it for three more years if the employer requests it. In fact, in some cases they have extended it beyond six years.