The immigration law of US defines “specialty occupation” meaning that an individual needs to attain a Bachelor’s or equivalent higher degree – in a specialized field, the Trump administration has said it is intending to “reconsider” the meaning of work under H-1B visas by January, a move which will adversely affect Indian IT organizations in the US and some medium sized legally binding firms which are mostly possessed by Indian-Americans.

The H-1B visa, most looked for after among Indian IT experts, is a non-immigrant visa that permits US organizations to utilize foreign laborers in specialty occupations that require specialized and technical mastery. The technical organizations rely upon it to procure a huge number of representatives every year from nations like India and China.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said On Wednesday that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to turn out with its new proposition by January 2019 and proposes to focus in obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals via H-1B programs. It will also propose additional requirements to ensure employers pay/appropriate wages to H-1B workers. The policy is expected to be revised August next year.

These proposed changes are to ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to individuals who will work in a job which meets the statutory definition of “specialty occupation”

Such moves could affect in excess of 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work licenses. The H-4 visas are issued by the USCIS to close relatives (mate and kids under 21 years old) of the holders of H-1B visa.

The DHS said it will propose to modify the meaning of claim to specialty occupation. It will likewise “amend the definition” of employer-employee relationship to “all the more likely secure” US specialists and wages.

Seeing that the interest for H-1B visas has regularly surpassed the numerical restriction, the DHS said it was proposing to set up an electronic enrollment program for such applications. This will enable USCIS to all the more effectively deal with the admission and lottery process for these H-1B petitions, it said.

The H1-B visa has a yearly numerical limitation of 65,000 visas each monetary year as per the Congress mandate. The initial 20,000 petitions recorded in the interest of recipients with a US graduate degree or higher are excluded from the cap.

The US government’s fall agenda proposes provision for international students to stay in the US for a specified time period, rather than for an entire period of their holding a student visa status. This time period will be extended from time to time, the change is introduced to limit overstays in the US by international students. Currently, visa holders stay in the US as long as they are engaged in their activities for which the visa was issued. In technical terms, this is referred to as admission for ‘duration of status’. Around 1.86 lacs Indian students are in the US under the status, as per 2017 report. This will be replaced with the time period of their stay including the training period of 60 days, under a specific departure date.

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