H-1B Visa trends

H1B Visa

The H1B visas are most popular long-term U.S visas. H1B is the popular non-immigrant visa which requires an applicant to submit the following documents to qualify:

• A bachelor's degree
• A job offer from a U.S. employer company for a specialty position that requires your bachelor's degree. They will be responsible for paying all the mandatory fee for the processing of visa.
• The employer must obtain Labor condition application from the department of labor.
• An Employer must attest that the beneficiary will be given a compensation that will match the current, prevailing wages in that organization.
• Beneficiary will be treated at par with U.S workers
• No strike or lockout is currently happening
• The current workers have been given LCA

Your sponsor will then have to submit 1-129 petition for the non-immigrant worker. The annual limit for receiving H1B visas is 85,000, the petition will be entered in a random lottery. First 20,000 applications are considered for master’s degree exemption. The next 65,000 applications are selected for random lottery application.

The H1B processing time

The LCA from ETA 9035 takes a week to process. If your employer prefers to choose premium processing, it will expedite soon. Overall the time taken for H1B via is about 6 months.

It is much easy to get H1B visa than E2, L1 and O visa. The H1B visa allows you to stay for three years initially which is extendable. H1B visa holders can port their visa from one employer to another employer. The visa holder can also work part-time for multiple employers. Spouse and children can live with the H1B visa holder under H4 visas. The biggest benefit of H1B visa is “dual intent”. A permanent resident status can be obtained under H1B non-immigrant status.

Trends in H1B Visa

The H-1B programme offers temporary US visas that allow companies to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers. Recently the Trump administration has been talking about cracking down on the visa scheme. U.S administration is planning to have stricter rules to issue H1B visa which is utilized by Indian Information technology firms. The U.S chamber of commerce has raised its voice against this announcement. The U.S chamber of commerce made a statement that it is rude to tell the highly talented workforce applying for permanent residency and have been working in the U.S for many years that they are no more accepted. This will have an adverse impact on the Indo-American business relationships and U.S Economy.

There was a news last December 2017 that department of homeland security is looking at new rules that would not accept H1B extensions. This proposal seems to be a part of U.S President Mr. Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” initiative.

This act in its present form allows the administration to allow extension of the H1B visas for thousands of immigrants if green card approval is pending. This extension could be for a period of two to three years of time. If this initiative is implemented, 750,000 Indian skilled workers will have to return to the homeland. Nasscom has warned that if such an initiative is implemented, it will weaken American economy as well as skilled talent, is responsible for the key success of technology sector.

Conventionally, every year U.S citizenship and immigration services grant approximately 85,000 visas which are issued for six years. Once this expires, they apply for green card and seek extensions under American competitiveness act. After President’s announcement, the H1B visa is receiving more scrutiny. The outsourcing firms complain that officials are issuing a time-consuming challenge to the applicants. The idea is to create more American workforce.

After all this news which created a lot of confusions and fear in the heart in Indians residing in the U.S, a sigh of relief came to Indians after Donald Trump’s administration said that it is not thinking about a regulatory change that will force H1B holders to leave America. This news gave a lot of relief to Indian Technology savvy’s’ residing in America.

"The USCIS is not considering a regulatory change that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the US by changing our interpretation of section 104(c) of AC-21, which provides for H-1B extensions beyond the 6-year limit," said Jonathan Withington, chief of media relations for USCIS.

However, the US Citizen and Immigration Services department is sending Request for Evidence (RFE). The purpose is to make sure that H1B visa is granted only to the eligible and who meet the criteria. However, the lawyers who represent the H1B applicants say that they are receiving more RFE in large volume than in the past. This may not mean denial of H1B visas, but certainly will consume more time for processing and will be expensive.

The H1B visa program needs to be looked from a global services trade perspective, and any changes or discrimination can have an adverse effect on India-America trade relations. This scenario is not very conducive to both the economies. There is an opinion expressed by US India strategic forum that H1B visa issue cannot be looked in isolation. This issue has a tremendous impact on geopolitical issues and trade relations between India and America. In 2017, Indian companies invested $17.9 billion in America, and they created jobs in that country. This has made American companies more competitive.

These companies have ramped up hiring in the U.S. Infosys has announced to hire 10,000 Americans last May.

Conclusion: No matter what the rules say, there are many aspirants from India to go to the USA every year to demonstrate their technical skills and work in the U.S. The H1B visa will help them to get good jobs. All the confusions and fears regarding the deportation of Indian workers in the U.S have been resolved.

India will be a gigantic consumer market in the coming ten years. Both the U.S and India need each other’s support for business and geopolitical support. Recently Miss Ivanka, Donald Trump’ daughter visited Hyderabad to attend Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which aimed at connecting the entrepreneurs, investors and the whole ecosystem supporters around the world.