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Emigration and immigration

H-1B Visa Program to Witness Significant Changes: Priority to be Given to Higher Wages

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The US authorities are planning to revamp the H-1B visa program, which is used for the temporary employment of foreign workers in specialty occupations. The proposed rule aims to establish a new weighted selection process for registrants and petitioners seeking to file cap-subject H-1B petitions. This new process is likely to prioritize wage levels, education qualifications, or other merit-based factors, ensuring that the H-1B classification is awarded to petitioners seeking to employ higher-skilled and higher-paid beneficiaries.

Key Takeaways:

  • The proposed rule aims to establish a weighted selection process for H-1B registrations based on wage levels, education qualifications, or other merit-based factors.
  • The US authorities argue that prioritizing wage levels in registration selection will encourage employers to offer higher wages, or to petition for positions requiring higher skills and higher-skilled aliens.
  • The proposed process will rank and select registrations based on the highest Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) prevailing wage level, starting with OES wage level IV and descending to OES wage levels III, II, and I.
  • The H-1B program offers 85,000 annual visas for specialty occupation workers, including 20,000 reserved for advanced U.S. degree holders.
  • The proposed rule aims to allocate restricted H-1B cap numbers to higher-skilled, higher-valued, or higher-paid foreign workers, rather than allowing cap numbers for lower-skilled or lower-paid positions.
  • Immigration attorneys warn that a change in the process could raise wages beyond a company's budget, leading to a decrease in the number of H-1B workers available to employers.

Statistics:

  • 85,000: The number of annual H-1B visas offered for specialty occupation workers.
  • 20,000: The number of H-1B visas reserved for advanced U.S. degree holders.
  • 2021: The year the initial proposal titled 'Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H1B Petitions' was floated by the Department of Homeland Security.
  • 2025: The copyright year of the article.

Sources:

  • US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
  • US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
  • Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)
  • Contify.com
  • IE Online Media Services Pvt. Ltd.

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