Tag: H-1B

  • DHS final rule to overhaul H-1B visa in favour of higher earners

    DHS final rule to overhaul H-1B visa in favour of higher earners

    The final rule, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday is due to take effect on February 27, in time for the annual H-1B spring lottery. 

    It is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and is set to be officially published on December 29.

    Alongside favouring “higher-skilled” and “higher-paid” workers, DHS said the change would “disincentivise abuse of the H-1B program to fill relatively lower-paid, lower-skilled positions, which is a significant problem under the present H-1B program”. 

    It is part of wider government efforts to ensure H-1B visas are issued to high earners, which saw the administration hiking the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 – a move it later clarified would not apply to F-1 students changing status within the US. 

    The drastic hike, which is up to 20 times more than what employers previously paid, has drawn three legal challenges, including one from the US Chamber of Commerce. 

    Today’s rule will come as little surprise to the sector after it was proposed in the Federal Register on September 24, with critics arguing that the change would constrain the US tech sector which they say would be moved to ramp up offshoring facilities and jobs.  

    53% of current international students say they would not have enrolled in the US if H-1B access was determined by wage levels

    NAFSA

    “There simply are not enough American computer science graduates to support the decades-long record of US innovation and economic growth. That is the wonder of the US tech sector,” Intead CEO Ben Waxman previously told The PIE. 

    “Why would the US government want to constrain that engine?” he asked.  

    What’s more, the change is likely to contribute to the declining appeal of the US among prospective international students who increasingly cite work experience and job opportunities as primary factors shaping study decisions.  

    In a recent NAFSA survey of current US international students, over half of respondents (53%) said they would not have enrolled in the first place if access to H-1B was determined by wage levels.  

    A similar proportion (54%) indicated they would never have enrolled in the US if it wasn’t for Optional Practical Training (OPT), which experts anticipate is also under threat. 

    The H-1B visa, popular with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Apple, enables US employers to temporarily employ international workers in “specialty occupations” across a wide range of industries such as healthcare, computer science and financial analysis.  

    Currently, there is an annual cap of 85,000 new H-1B visas, and when this cap is exceeded, applicants are placed into a random lottery which determines who is awarded a visa.  

    Under the new weighted system, higher earners will be entered into the selection pool more times than lower earners, ranging from one to four times.  

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  • $100,000 H-1B visa fee draws third court challenge

    $100,000 H-1B visa fee draws third court challenge

    The coalition of states, led by California’s attorney general Rob Bonta, has argued Trump’s September proclamation bypasses required rulemaking procedures and exceeds the authority of the President’s executive branch.  

    They said the fee violates federal law which allows immigration authorities to collect only necessary fees to cover the cost of administering visa processes.  

    “The Trump administration thinks it can raise costs on a whim, but the law says otherwise,” declared Bonta on December 12. 

    “We are going to court to defend California’s residents and their access to the world-class universities, schools, and hospitals that make Californians proud to call this state home,” he said.  

    The plaintiffs argued the $100,000 fee required for certain H-1B petitions would put “unnecessary” and “illegal” financial burdens on public employers and providers of vital services, exacerbating labour shortages in key sectors.  

    The lawsuit filed last week in a federal court in Boston is the third to challenge Trump’s September 19 proclamation raising the cost of an H-1B visa petition to $100,000 – over 20 times the current cost which ranges between $2,000 and $5,000.  

    The H-1B visa enables US employers to temporarily hire international workers in “specialty occupations” from healthcare to computer science and financial analysis. California’s tech industry is particularly reliant on the visa stream.  

    A month after the initial proclamation, the administration clarified the controversial fee would not apply to international students and other visa holders changing status in the country – an update that commentators say will cause US companies to lean heavily into hiring US trained international students.  

    The White House previously said the fee would combat the “large-scale abuse” of the program which was replacing American workers and undermining the country’s economic and national security.

    The Trump Administration thinks it can raise costs on a whim, but the law says otherwise

    Rob Bonta, California Attorney General

    The states bringing the lawsuit are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

    Their legal action follows the US Chamber of Commerce bringing a case against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and an earlier case, Global Nurse Force v. Trump, challenging the policy on similar grounds to the most recent suit.  

    Plaintiffs in the Chamber of Commerce lawsuit are seeking a preliminary injunction that would temporarily ban the fee being imposed while the legality of the proclamation is litigated. A district court hearing is due to be held today (December 19) on the injunction.  

    In addition to the fee hike, businesses and prospective employers are keeping a close eye on government plans to overhaul the H-1B system in favour of higher wage earners. 

    A change of this sort is likely to have wide-reaching implications for global talent flows to the US, with over half of postgraduate students indicating in a recent survey that they wouldn’t have enrolled at US institutions if access to H-1B was determined by wage levels.  

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