H1B Visa New Rules: Want to work in the US? Here's what you need to know - 10 points

H1B Visa New Rules: If you are meritorious or already studied in the US, you will have more chanced of getting a H1B visa to work in the country. The is as per the new visa rule proposed in the US. The US administration led by President Donald Trump has proposed major changes to the H-1B application process. These include a new rule requiring companies to electronically register their petitions in advance. The proposal is aimed at awarding this popular American work visa to the most skilled and highest paid foreign workers. The proposal was made on Friday, reported news agency PTI.

The H1B visa is very popular among Indian IT companies and professionals. H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa, which allows the US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on H1B visa hire thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

What's the new H1B visa proposal - 10 points

- An official notice said companies employing foreign workers on the H-1B visa - under the Congressional mandated annual caps - would first have to electronically register with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period.

- The H1-B visa has a numerical limit cap of 65,000 visas each fiscal year. This cap is mandated by the US Congress. Out of these, the first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher are exempt from the cap.

- As per the new rule USCIS would also reverse the order by which it selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption. This will likely increase the number of foreign workers with a master's or higher degree from a US institution of higher education to be selected for an H-1B cap number. 

- The proposed rule will introduce a more meritorious selection of beneficiaries, said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

- Public comment on the proposed rule can submitted starting December 3, and on or before January 2. 

- "Currently, in years when the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption are both reached within the first five days that H-1B cap petitions may be filed, the advanced degree exemption is selected prior to the H-1B cap. The proposed rule would reverse the selection order and count all registrations or petitions towards the number projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap first," the DHS said.

- "This proposed change would increase the chances that beneficiaries with a master's or higher degree from a US institution of higher education would be selected under the H-1B cap and that H-1B visas would be awarded to the most-skilled and highest-paid beneficiaries," it said.

- Once a sufficient number of registrations or petitions have been selected for the H-1B cap, the USCIS would then select registrations or petitions towards the advanced degree exemption.

-  The proposed process would result in an estimated increase of up to 16 per cent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected H-1B beneficiaries with a master's degree or higher from a US institution of higher education, the DHS said.

- The proposed rule would "help reduce wait times for cap selection notifications. The proposed rule also limits the filing of H-1B cap-subject petitions to the beneficiary named on the original selected registration, which would protect the integrity of this registration system."