China news agency, Washington, January 9 (Xinhua) The US Citizenship and Immigration Service announced the new regulations on the application of H-1B work visa on the 8th. The new rules will cancel the existing lottery system and give priority to the applicant’s salary level.
H-1B (Temporary Work Visa) is the most important type of work visa in the United States, which authorizes foreign professionals and technicians to be employed in the United States.
According to the new regulations, the US government will divide four salary levels to allocate H-1B visas based on the years of employment and work experience. Under the condition that the annual quota of 85,000 visas remains unchanged, priority will be given to issuing visas to applicants with higher salaries in each file.
The bureau said that this regulation aims to protect the economic interests of American workers and better ensure that the most skilled foreign workers benefit from it. The new regulations will come into effect on March 9, 2021.
Edelot, deputy director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service in charge of policy, said that the H-1B project was abused by some employers seeking to fill junior positions and reduce operating costs, making it impossible for the United States to attract the best international talents through this project.
However, Bloomberg News quoted the analysis of immigration lawyers as saying that the new regulations will force American companies to provide jobs for foreign employees who want to stay, which will greatly increase labor costs. Because the number of H-1B applications in the United States exceeds the quota every year, the possibility of obtaining a visa for applicants who are new and lack of work experience will be reduced accordingly.
Since taking office, US President Trump has taken a tough stance on immigration policy and promoted a "merit-based" approach to attract foreign talents. According to the analysis of American media, the policy is likely to encounter judicial challenges in the future because of the dispute over the salary setting of foreign employees by the US Department of Labor.