A few days before the end of the term, the administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has again modified its H-1B visa regime, giving priority to higher salaries and skills instead of the current lottery system for select candidates who want to work in the country.
The new rules in force for 60 days after their publication in the Federal Register on January 8, will most likely cover H-1B applicants. The next H1B visa application season is scheduled to begin on April 1st.
Under the amended rules, H-1B limit visas would be assigned to those earning the highest salaries in their respective field of employment and geographical areas of employment. Visas will be awarded first to people sponsored by U.S. Level 4 companies, which is the highest of the four salary categories and covers highly experienced workers.
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They are followed by those of level 3, etc., until the annual quota of 85,000 is met. Until now, the selection of H-1B work visas was done through a random lottery system, which did not take into account salary, experience or any selection factor.
Indians constitute the largest number of H-1B visa recipients in the US. The new rule could make hiring international workers more difficult and would significantly affect Indians aspiring to work in the country.
The Indian government said it was involved in talks with the US to increase predictability in the visa regime and to minimize inconvenience to Indian citizens in the US.
The H1B visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in skilled occupations that require theoretical or technical knowledge. U.S. technology companies depend on this category of visas to hire millions of employees each year from India and China.
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The technical giants oppose the movement
The constant changes in the H-1B visa regime have been opposed by leaders of technology giants such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter. Although Indian companies have gradually ceased to depend on these work permits, many technology giant companies are still looking to hire the H-1B worker reserve.
H-1B visas are generally approved for three years, after which beneficiaries often change employers and continue to work for other U.S.-based companies. 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 want to change jobs in order to continue, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.
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