The Trump administration intends to revise the definition of specialty occupations and employment under the H-1B US visa scheme by January 2019. The H-1B US visa is a non-immigrant visa enabling US businesses to hire overseas workers in specialty occupations needing technical or theoretical expertise.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that US Citizenship and Immigration Services will announce its new proposal by January next year at the latest. The DHS also announced its proposal to have certain H-4 spouses of non-immigrants on the H-1B US visa removed from its regulations as eligible for authorization to work in the US. The decision could impact over 70,000 holders of H-4 US visas who already have work permits.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services issue H-4 US visas to immediate family members (spouses and children below the age of 21) of H-1B US visas holders. The DHS says it intends to propose the revision of the definition of a specialty occupation to focus more on enabling the best and brightest overseas workers to come to the US by way of the H-1B US visa program.
The DHS will also alter the definition of employment and the relationship between employers and employees to better protect American workers and their wages. It is proposing the establishment of an electronic registration program for H-1B US visa applications to create a more efficient way of managing the intake and lottery process for program petitions.