New H-1B visa regulations are about to be announced by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which might have a significant impact on Indian professionals and enterprises. Prior to the legalization of the modifications to visa regulations, the new regulations are anticipated to be published on July 8 and be available for public comment for a while.
The main visa path used by Indian IT companies to send their software engineering staff to the US for employment is the H-1B. Historically, the majority of people applying for H-1B visas have been Indians.
The proposed rule would require an extension of an H-1B visa to cost $4,000, and an extension of an L-1 visa to cost $4,500. This is a component of the Biometric Entry-Exit Fee and 9/11 Response, which is presently limited to initial visa petitions and employer changes.
USCIS released the proposed rule for public comment on October 23 of last year. The comment period is open for 60 days. According to Forbes, the Biden administration may decide to finalize it before the end of this year or possibly after the next election.
When word is released about proposed changes to the visas used by thousands of Indians to live and work in the US, a large number of holders of H-1B visas as well as potential applicants may be impacted.
The new regulations’ contentious definition of specialty jobs will limit the number of employment eligible for H-1B visas, according to critics.
By using the phrase “directly related specific speciality,” it limits job descriptions to those that call for particular degrees that are “closely related to” the position.
Put another way, it is a copy of a Trump-era regulation the courts banned because it might have excluded a large number of highly qualified foreign experts.
A significant number of individuals will be impacted by the new visa regulations since, as the Forbes article also notes, the majority of highly qualified professionals in the US do not hold a degree that is “directly related” to their field of expertise.
Business administration degree holders will probably be impacted by another contentious clause, which would classify them as having “a general degree” insufficient for classification as a specialty occupation.
International MBA students pursuing H-1B status may find this to be a significant obstacle, and fewer international students may enroll in MBA programs at US universities as a result.
In addition to changing the requirements for education, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to charge employers a high price in order to extend H-1B and L-1 visas.
Employers who employ more than fifty people, where more than fifty percent of the workforce is on an H-1B or L-1 visa, currently pay a charge.
Employers in the United States are able to employ foreign nationals with the H-1B visa to fill specialized positions that cannot be filled locally. Similar to this, employees can shift to a linked US branch, affiliate, subsidiary, or parent company from a corporation in their home country with the L-1 visa.
Indians possess the greatest number of H-1B visas, according to a USCIS data, and they may be most impacted by the new requirements in the visa rule.
Businesses that extend visas for a large number of employees may be subject to severe financial consequences, which may force them to reconsider how they hire new employees and how long to keep foreign workers on staff.