new h1 rule; bots assam

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New Visa Lottery Process Would Favor Advanced-Degree Holders

Posted Nov. 30, 2018, 8:09 AM

• Lottery would be run after employer preregistration
• Visas picked from total pool first, then advanced-degree pool

The annual lottery for H-1B skilled guestworker visas could look very different in April if the plan just released by the government is put in place in time.

Under a proposed rule released Nov. 30, employers seeking the visas would have to preregister for them, allowing the lottery to be run without having to file a full petition with supporting documentation.

In addition, the lottery would be run first on all H-1B petitions, followed by a lottery for however remaining slots there are for advanced-degree holders. The switch is expected to result in more advanced-degree holders obtaining H-1B visas than those with bachelor’s degrees.

In the past, the lottery was run first for the advanced-degree slots and then the general H-1B pool.

The H-1B lottery has become a staple of the business immigration landscape, as demand for the visas has outstripped supply in recent years. There are 65,000 H-1B visas available each year, with an additional 20,000 allocated for workers with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna has stated repeatedly that he wants the regulation finalized by the next lottery in April. There will be a 30-day public comment period on the proposal once it’s officially published in the Federal Register, which is expected Dec. 3.