The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) as part of efforts to modernize the H-1B temporary work visa program.
The new changes published through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), among others, include streamlining eligibility requirements, improving program efficiency, providing greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers, strengthening integrity measures,VisaGuide.World reports.
DHS continues to develop and implement regulations that increase efficiency and improve processes for employers and workers navigating the immigration system. The Biden-Harris Administration’s priority is to attract global talent, reduce undue burdens on employers, and prevent fraud and abuse in the immigration system.
Under the new proposal, new changes would be applied to how USCIS conducts the H-1B registration selection process in order to reduce the possibility of misuse and fraud. At present, the more registrations that are submitted on behalf of a person, the higher the chance that person will be selected in a lottery.
The H-1B visa, also known as the Person in Specialty Occupation Visa, allows US employers to hire qualified workers from other countries for speciality jobs if they prove that they cannot find employees in the US.
Each year, the United States allocates 65,000 H-1B visas and 20,000 additional visas eligible for those who have a master’s degree or higher.
In order to reduce confusion between the public and adjudicators, it has been proposed to streamline the eligibility requirements. The new changes also seek to clarify that a position may permit a range of degrees, even though there must be a direct relationship between the required degree field and the positions’ duties.
By improving the program efficiency, the proposed rules mean that adjudicators should defer to a prior determination when no underlying facts have changed at the time of a new filing.
The USCIS has also proposed to provide greater benefits and flexibilities for employers and workers, thus applying certain exemptions to the Person in Specialty Occupation Program for certain nonprofit organizations and beneficiaries who are not directly employed by a qualifying organization.
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.
Among the new changes have also been proposed strengthening integrity measures to prohibit related entities from submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary.
Calling the program “indentured servitude,” Indian-American presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Vivek Ramaswamy, vowed to put an end to the H-1B program if voted to power next year.
The H-1B visa program was often criticized for being subject to unlawful affairs. In August this year, about 70 nationals from India announced that they were suing the government of the US, pretending that their H-1B visa applications were denied unjustly.