The US president Donald Trump administration has proposed to scrap the computerized lottery system to grant H-1B work visas to foreign technology professionals and substitute it with a wage-level-based selection process, a step that is expected to counter the downward pressure on the wages of US workers.
A notification on the new system is being published in the Federal Register on Thursday. Stakeholders have one month period to respond to the notification, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, less than seven days before the U.S presidential election.
Replacing the computerized draw of lots to decide on the successful H-1B applicants, the DHS said it is expected to help counter the downward pressure on the wages of American workers that is created by an annual influx of relatively lower-paid, new cap-subject H-1B workers. The H-1B visa, most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
If finalised as proposed, US Citizenship and Immigration Services would first select registrations (or petitions, if the registration process is suspended) generally based on the highest Occupational Employment Statistics prevailing wage level that the offered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification code and areas of intended employment.
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