Just days before the term ended, US President Donald Trump’s government again changed its H-1B visa regime and gave higher priority to higher wages and skills instead of the prevailing lottery system to select candidates who were willing is to work in the country.
The new rules, which are in effect for 60 days after appearing in the Federal Registry on January 8, are likely to cover H-1B applicants. The next H1B visa submission season is expected to begin on April 1st.
Under the amended rules, H-1B visas would be granted to those earning the highest salaries in their respective occupations and geographical areas. The visas are first awarded to individuals sponsored by US companies at Level 4, which is the highest of the four wage categories and covers many experienced workers.
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Followed by those at level 3 and so on until the annual quota of 85,000 is reached. Until now, the selection of H-1B work visas has been done by a random lottery system, which did not take into account salary, experience or any factors for selection.
Indians are the largest number of beneficiaries of H-1B visas in the US. The new rule could make the hiring of international workers more challenging and significantly affect the Indians who want to work in the country.
The Indian government has said it has negotiated with the US to increase the visa regime and to limit the inconvenience to Indian citizens in the US.
The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in special occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. U.S. technology companies rely on this visa category to hire millions of employees from India and China annually.
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Technical giants are opposed to it
The leaders of technology giants such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter have opposed the ongoing changes in the H-1B visa regime. Although Indian companies have gradually stopped, depending on these work permits, many giant technology companies still want to hire in the pool H-1B workers.
H-1B visas are generally approved for three years, after which beneficiaries often change employers and continue working for other U.S. businesses. In 2018-19, Google, Facebook and Apple hired more than 13,000 highly skilled IT workers with H1B visas, either directly or from existing visa holders who plan to change plans to stay on, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
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