The Department of Homeland Security is preparing a proposal to make it even more difficult to acquire an H-1B US visa. Stringent regulations on the selection process for H-1B US visa petitioners are on the cards, according to the international immigration firm, Fragomen.
The most recent update on the Fragomen website says that the Department of Homeland Security may be intending to revive a proposal that was originally mooted in 2011, which requires preregistration by H-1B US visa petitioners for the cap lottery and to be able to submit their petitions only after successfully winning cap numbers. The update says that the DHS also intends to suggest a priority system for the allocation of H-1B US visa cap numbers, ensuring priority is given to the highest skilled and most highly paid. This would fit with President Donald Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ policy, made via executive order.
Alterations to wages for H-1B US visa workers are also being considered. Fragomen Worldwide partner, Scott J Fitzgerald, said that there is not likely to be an announcement about the H-1B US visa cap lottery system until February 2018.
If the changes follow the normal process, which enables time for ‘Notice and Comment’, a system that generally takes many months, it is unlikely that they will come into effect with the upcoming cap, filing for which is expected to begin in April 2018.