H-1B rules get stricter. US aspirants, have a look
Posted on: 19/Oct/2018 11:48:51 AM
To all the Indians out there who are aspiring to fly to America, here is a check! Giving reason that the job is not a specialty occupation, a lot of H-1B applications are being rejected by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. There is also a proposal in this regard called the Strengthening the H-1B non-immigration visa classification program. According to this, the definition of specialty occupation will be amended by the Department of Homeland Security, and better focus towards getting the brightest foreign nationals shall be eyed on with the H-1B program. Furthermore, the relationship shared between employees and employers shall also be altered, and there will also be proposal for including new criteria for ensuring prompt wage payment to all the H-1B workers. It is likely that by August 2019, these changes will be implemented.
Ultimately, the proposed changes will eye on providing the H-1B visa to only those applicants who will be fit in a specialty occupation that caters to its articulated definition. It is likely that the changes in the rule shall be contested in the court.
What is H-1B visa?
This is a visa provided to professional workers who are deployed in specialty operations where a bachelor’s degree or any equivalent degree is necessary. Predominantly, the H-1B visa is offered to the technology sector of which most of them hail from India. For instance, during the annual period until September 2017, a total number of 3.65 lakh H-1B visa applications were approved by the USCIS out of which 70 percent of them counting to 2.56 lakh were offered to Indians.
There is continuous request for revising the definition of specialty occupation. Hence according to the Immigration and National Act, there needs a change in the new legislation and it is not necessary with the agency regulation.
It is however said that setting benchmark wages is going to be a violation of the department of labor regulations. To change the common law definition is certainly a Himalayan task, say experts.
The American Immigration Council aims at obtaining justice to all its immigrants as per the US law. It is notably a non-profit organization. A lot of H-1B applications are being rejected by the USCIS claiming that the job they are to get placed are not specialty occupation. These jobs are inclusive of jobs where foreign nationals acquire H-1B visas for the same job or others of similar kind that do not fall under the category of occupational type which according to the USCIS is not specialty occupation.
