In order to increase efficiency, the Biden administration is recommending modifications to the H-1B foreign worker program that would streamline eligibility requirements, provide F-1 students, entrepreneurs, and those working for non-profit organizations more flexibility, and ensure better working conditions for other non-immigrant employees.
The 60,000 annual cap on such visas that the US is required to grant by Congress would remain in place under the proposed guidelines, which will be published by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on October 23 in the Federal Register.
A non-immigrant visa called the H1B enables US businesses to hire foreign workers for specialized positions that need for theoretical or technical competence.
It is often given to firms for a period of three to six years in order to recruit a foreign worker. However, H-1B visa holders who have started the application process for a Green Card may often continue to work there forever.
It is essential to the hiring of tens of thousands of workers each year from nations like China and India by the technology giants.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the proposed changes in the rules are intended to streamline eligibility requirements, improve programme efficiency, provide greater benefits and flexibilities to employers and workers, and strengthen integrity measures. DHS made the proposed rules public so stakeholders could give their comments and feedback.
The H-1B program assists US firms in filling open positions with the staff they need to run their businesses successfully and compete on a worldwide scale, all while abiding by the legal requirements for worker protection in the US.
The objective of the Biden-Harris administration, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, is to promote international talent, lessen excessive costs on companies, and stop fraud and abuse in the immigration system.
The DHS stated that the proposed rule would alter how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process in order to decrease the likelihood of abuse and fraud. Specialty occupations are defined by statute as jobs requiring highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific speciality or its equivalent.
A person’s likelihood of getting chosen in a lottery increases under the existing procedure the more registrations that are made on their behalf. The DHS said in a statement that under the revised plan, any person who has a registration filed on their behalf would only be included in the selection process once, regardless of the number of registrations made on their behalf.
“By considerably lowering or eliminating the benefit of submitting many registrations for the same beneficiary only to raise the likelihood of selection, this would increase the likelihood that a valid registration would be chosen. Because any registrant who filed a registration for a chosen beneficiary would have the opportunity to file an H-1B petition on the beneficiary’s behalf, it may also provide beneficiaries additional options between valid employment offers, it said.
To clarify that a position may allow a range of degrees while there must be a direct relationship between the required degree field(s) and the duties of the position, the proposed rule would revise the requirements for speciality occupation positions. This would reduce confusion among the public and adjudicators.
The proposed rule codifies that where no underlying facts have changed at the time of a new filing, adjudicators shall typically rely on a previous ruling.
The H-1B ceiling would be extended for certain charitable organizations or governmental research organizations, as well as for beneficiaries who are not directly employed by a qualified organization, under the proposed regulation.
Additionally, the DHS would give students on F-1 visas some leeway when they wanted to switch to an H-1B status. The agency will also set new H-1B eligibility standards for budding businesses.
By forbidding connected companies from submitting numerous registrations for the same beneficiary, abuse and fraud in the H-1B registration process will be decreased in addition to strengthening integrity safeguards and altering the selection procedure. The DHS said that the rule would also formalize USCIS’ right to conduct site inspections and make it clear that failure to cooperate with site visits might lead to the petition being denied or revoked.
The ‘Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Programme, and Programme Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers’ rule was hailed by Indian American Ajay Bhutoria, a strong proponent of immigration reform.
According to Bhutoria, these proposed modifications represent a big step toward modernizing our immigration system and making it more open to highly qualified professionals and international students.
The suggested reform package, which includes giving F-1 students more freedom and improving circumstances for other nonimmigrant workers, “reflects a serious approach to resolving some of the long-standing challenges in the H-1B visa program. We value the DHS’s dedication to creating an environment that attracts people from throughout the world and keeps American industry competitive, said Bhutoria.
