US to alter H-1B visa criteria for employment in the country

The US government announced on Thursday that they will amend their selection process for the H-1B visa and will prioritise factors like skills and salary over the lottery procedure, reported PTI. 

The new rule will aim to take into account the skills of foreign workers and the economic agendas of the US. 

The rule will be published in the federal register on January 8. 

The H-1B visas permit US companies to hire people from outside the US for jobs that require technical knowledge and experience. US-based tech companies rely on the H-1B visa to outsource employees from countries like China and India. 

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that revising the H-1B cap and its selection process might give incentives to employers to give increased salaries and help businesses to remain active and in competition.

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The final rule will be effective 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. The next H-1B visa filing season is slated to start on April 1, reported PTI. 

USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow said, “The H-1B temporary visa programme has been exploited and abused by employers primarily seeking to fill entry-level positions and reduce overall business costs”. 

“The current H-1B random selection process makes it difficult for businesses to plan their hiring fails to leverage the programme to compete for the best and brightest international workforce and has predominantly resulted in the annual influx of foreign labor placed in low-wage positions at the expense of US workers,” he said.

This effort will only affect H-1B registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) submitted by prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, reported PTI.