The H-1B visa is the most sought after among Indian IT professionals. (File)
Washington:
The Trump administration has proposed to do away with the computerized lottery system for granting H-1B work visas to foreign tech professionals and replace it with a selection process based on salary level, a move that is expected to counter the downward pressure on wages in the United States. workers.
A notice on the new system is published Thursday in the Federal Register. Stakeholders have 30 days to respond to the notification, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, less than a week before the US presidential election.
By replacing the computerized lottery to decide who will be successful for H-1B, DHS said it should help counter the downward pressure on American workers’ wages created by an annual influx of new, relatively lower-paid caps. . H-1B workers subjects.
The H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals, is a nonimmigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in skilled occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
If finalized as proposed, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would first select registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) generally based on the salary level in effect on the highest in the statistics of the professional job at which the offered salary is equal to or higher for the relevant standard classification code of occupations. and the areas of employment envisaged.
“Prioritization and selection based on salary levels better balances the interests of petitioners, H-1B workers, and American workers,” DHS said.
“With this proposed rule, the Trump administration continues to deliver on its promise to protect the American worker while strengthening the economy. The H-1B program is often exploited and abused by American employers and their American clients, who are primarily looking to hire foreigners. workers and pay lower wages, ”said Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Ken Cuccinelli.
US President Donald Trump, eager to regulate the country’s immigration policy, on June 22 signed the executive order temporarily banning the issuance of new H-1B and L-1 visas until December 31. Reforming the US immigration regime is a major election promise of the Republican leader under his America First policy.
“Current use of random selection to award H-1B visas makes it harder for companies to plan their hiring, fails to leverage the H-1B program to truly compete for the world‘s best and brightest , and hurts American workers by making relatively lower hires – paid foreign labor at the expense of American labor, “Cuccinelli said.
According to the DHS, changing the selection process for the H-1B cap by replacing the random selection process with a selection process based on salary level is a better way to allocate H-1Bs when demand exceeds the offer.
This new selection process would encourage employers to offer higher wages or apply for positions requiring higher skills and more skilled workers instead of using the program to fill relatively lower paying vacancies.
The proposed changes would maintain the effective and efficient administration of the H-1B cap selection process while providing some potential candidates with the opportunity to potentially improve their chances of selection by agreeing to pay H-1B recipients higher salaries. that meet or exceed the higher prevailing wage levels. , It said.
This is necessary to promote the administration’s goal of prioritizing registrations subject to the H-1B cap for petitioners seeking to employ more skilled and better paid workers, which is more in line with the general intent of the government. Congress for the H-1B program, DHS said.
According to the federal notification, prioritizing salary levels in the registration selection process prompts employers to offer higher salaries or apply for positions requiring higher skills that correspond to higher salary levels, in order to to increase the probability of selection for a possible petition.
Likewise, it discourages the abuse of the H-1B program to fill lower paid and lower skilled positions, which is a significant problem in the current selection system. With few exceptions, H-1B petitioners are not required to demonstrate a labor shortage as a prerequisite for obtaining H-1B workers, he said.
The number of petitions submitted to the H-1B cap, including those filed for the graduate degree exemption, has often exceeded the annual H-1B numerical allowances.
For at least the past decade, USCIS has received more H-1B petitions than the annual H-1B number allocation in those respective years.
Since the fiscal 2014 capping season (April 2013), USCIS has received more H-1B petitions (or registrations) in the first five filing days (or initial registration period) than annual numerical allowances H-1B.
The H-1B visa mandated by Congress has an annual cap of 65,000 visas.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
