DHS Proposes Merit-Primarily based Rule for More Effective and Productive H-1B Visa Plan 

WASHINGTON The Department of Homeland Protection (DHS) announced appropriate now a realize of proposed rulemaking that would demand petitioners searching for to file H-1B cap-topic petitions to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Remedies (USCIS) throughout a designated registration time period. Below the proposed rule, USCIS would also reverse the order by which USCIS selects H-1B petitions underneath the H-1B cap and the innovative degree exemption, possibly increasing the quantity of beneficiaries with a master's or higher degree from an U.S. institution of higher teaching to be selected for an H-1B cap selection, and introducing an a good deal more meritorious assortment of beneficiaries.
The H-1B program permits businesses in the United States to temporarily utilize foreign staff in specialty occupations that get in touch with for the theoretical and practical application of a physique of very specialized knowledge and a bachelors or enhanced degree in the certain specialty, or its equivalent. When USCIS receives a lot much more than ample petitions to attain the congressionally mandated H-1B cap, a pc-generated random selection course of action, or lottery, is utilized to determine on the petitions that are counted in route of the assortment of petitions projected as required to attain the cap.
The proposed rule involves a provision that would allow USCIS to temporarily suspend the registration program of action for the duration of any fiscal 12 months in which USCIS may possibly encounter technical difficulties with the H-1B registration method and/or the new electronic system. The proposed temporary suspension provision would also allow USCIS to up-front delay the implementation of the H-1B registration approach previous the fiscal yr (FY) 2020 cap season, if required to complete all requisite consumer testing and vetting of the new H-1B registration procedure and strategy. Whilst USCIS has been actively functioning to develop and check the electronic registration method, if the rule is finalized as proposed, but there is insufficient time to use the registration approach for the FY 2020 cap variety course of action, USCIS would in all probability suspend the registration necessity for the FY 2020 cap season.
Currently, in quite a few many years when the H-1B cap and the sophisticated degree exemption are each and every reached within of the original five days that H-1B cap petitions might be filed, the state-of-the-artwork degree exemption is picked prior to the H-1B cap. The proposed rule would reverse the variety get and count all registrations or petitions in the course of the amount projected as essential to attain the H-1B cap first. When an ample variety of registrations or petitions have been selected for the H-1B cap, USCIS would then choose on registrations or petitions in route of the advanced degree exemption. This proposed change would boost the chances that beneficiaries with a master's or greater degree from an U.S. institution of bigger training would be chosen underneath the H-1B cap and that H-1B visas would be awarded to the most-experienced and highest-paid beneficiaries. Importantly, the proposed course of action would outcome in an estimated raise of up to 16 % (or 5,340 employees) in the variety of selected H-1B beneficiaries with a master's degree or increased from an U.S. institution of improved education.
USCIS expects that shifting to electronic registration would lessen general fees for petitioners and develop an a lot much more powerful and price-productive H-1B cap petition strategy for USCIS. The proposed rule would assist alleviate considerable administrative burdens on USCIS due to the fact the company would no longer require to physically get and take care of hundreds of 1000's of H-1B petitions and supporting documentation in advance of conducting the cap option method. This would assist lower wait occasions for cap assortment notifications. The proposed rule also limits the filing of H-1B cap-topic petitions to the beneficiary named on the exclusive selected registration, which would safeguard the integrity of this registration approach.
On April 18, 2017, President Trump issued the Buy American and Retain the providers of American Executive Purchase, instructing DHS to propose new ideas and issue new advice, to supersede or revise prior rules and assistance if ideal, to defend the interests of U.S. personnel in the administration of our immigration plan. The EO exclusively pointed out the H-1B process and directed DHS and other agencies to propose reforms to assist make certain that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-experienced or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.
Additional info on the proposed rule is offered in the Federal Register. Public feedback may well perhaps be submitted commencing Monday, December 3, when the proposed rule publishes in the Federal Register, and need to be obtained on or prior to January two, 2019. 

US IMMIGRATION LAWYER