Event, News by admin Oct 27, 2023
4 ways US proposes to change H-1B visa programme
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USICS), recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that aims to modernise the H-1B specialty occupation worker programme by streamlining eligibility requirements, improving programs efficiency, providing greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers and strengthening integrity measures.
For those unaware, the H-1B program helps American companies and employers to hire the employees they need to meet their business needs and remain competitive in the global marketplace. It is one of the most-sought after visa programme among Indians.
The H-1B non immigrant visa program allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations, defined by statute as occupations that require highly specialised knowledge and a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent
The proposed rule aims to improve the H-1B program by:
*Streamlining eligibility requirements: Criteria for specialty occupation positions would be revised to reduce confusion between the public and adjudicators and to clarify that a position may allow a range of degrees, although there must be a direct relationship between the required degree field(s) and the duties of the position;
* Improving program efficiency: The proposed rule codifies that djudicators generally should defer to a prior determination when no underlying facts have changed at time of new filing;
*Providing greater benefits and flexibility for employers and workers: certain exemptions to the H-1B cap would be expanded for certain nonprofit entities or governmental research organisations as well as beneficiaries who are not directly employed by a qualifying organisation. DHS would also extend certain flexibilities for students on an F-1 visa when students are seeking to change their status to H-1B. Additionally, DHS would establish new H-1B eligibility requirements for rising entrepreneurs; and
* Strengthening integrity measures: In addition to changing the selection process, misuse and fraud in the H-1B registration process would be reduced by prohibiting related entities from submiting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary. The rule would also codify USCIS' authority to conduct site visits and clarify that refusal to comply with site visits may result in denial or revocation of the petition.
What are the proposed changes
The proposed rule would change how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process to reduce the possibility of misue and fraud. Under the current process, the more registrations that are submitted on behalf of an individual, the higher chace that individual will be selected in a lottery. Under the new proposal, each unique individual who has a registration submitted on their behalf would be entered into the selection process once, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. This would improve the chances that a legitimate registration would be selected by significantly reducing or eliminating the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary solely to increase the chances of selection. Furthermore, It could also give beneficiaries more choice between legitimate job offers because each registrant who submitted a registration for a selected beneficiary would have the ability to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary.
Source:timesofindia
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