{"id":475,"date":"2019-02-11T22:06:30","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paschal-law.com\/blog\/?p=475"},"modified":"2019-02-11T22:06:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:06:30","slug":"new-h-1b-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paschal-law.com\/blog\/new-h-1b-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"New H\u20131B Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The US H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ college graduate level workers in \u201cspecialty occupations<\/a>.\u201d Currently, the H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit “cap” of 65,000 visas each fiscal year, with additional 20,000 for beneficiaries with a U.S. master\u2019s degree or higher. However, starting April 1, 2019 DHS is amending its regulations in favor of a more stringent application process. The new changes are outlined in USCIS\u2019s H\u20131B Petitions final rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first amendment requires petitioners seeking to file H\u20131B petitions subject to the regular cap, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, to first<\/em> electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (\u2018\u2018USCIS\u2019\u2019). However, USCIS will suspend the registration requirement for the fiscal year 2020 cap season to complete user testing of the new H\u20131B registration system and otherwise ensure the system and process are operable. Going further, the final rule also amends the process by which USCIS selects H\u20131B petitions toward the projected number of petitions needed to reach the regular cap and<\/em> advanced degree exemption.<\/p>\n

Under the current<\/em><\/strong> H-1B selection process, if the regular cap and advanced degree exemption are reached in the first five business days that cap-subject petitions can be filed, USCIS randomly selects sufficient H-1B petitions to reach the H-1B 20,000 advanced degree exemption first. Then, USCIS randomly selects sufficient H-1B petitions from the remaining pool of beneficiaries, including those not selected in the advanced degree exemption, to reach the H-1B 65,000 regular cap limit. USCIS then rejects all remaining H-1B cap-subject petitions.<\/p>\n

The new<\/strong> rule reverses the selection process. Under the final rule USCIS counts H\u20131B registrations by first selecting registrations submitted on behalf of all<\/strong> beneficiaries, including<\/strong> those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will then select from the remaining registrations a sufficient number projected as needed to reach the advanced degree exemption. The most notable implications of this change is that it will likely increase the number of beneficiaries with a master\u2019s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to be selected for further processing under the H\u20131B allocations.<\/p>\n

If you or your organization will need services of an attorney during this H-1B season, please reach out to our office<\/a> at 612 465 0060.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ college graduate level workers in \u201cspecialty occupations.\u201d Currently, the H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit “cap” of 65,000 visas each fiscal year, with additional 20,000 for beneficiaries with a U.S. master\u2019s degree or higher. However, starting April 1, 2019 DHS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t