February 23, 2018
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – Reuters
February 23, 2018
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – Reuters
In a move that could prove to be a fresh blow to Indian IT firms, the Donald Trump administration has announced a new H-1B visa policy, making things much tougher for applicants as well as employers.
The new seven-page policy was announced by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday, February 22 and it brings several changes to the existing regulations
Until now, the H-1B visas were issued for a period of three years, but new policy empowers the USCIS to approve the H-1B visas for only a specific period of time, during which the worker will be employed at the third-party worksite.
Not just for the visa-holders, the regulations will also get much more stringent for firms employing these workers as the employers will be required to prove that the employee working at a third-party worksite has specific and non-qualifying assignments in a speciality occupation, reported the Press Trust of India.
The employers will also have to provide documents proving that the worker will be at the worksite on a speciality occupation and that the parties will maintain an employer-employee relationship. The USCIS will approve the H-1B visa only if the documents meet the conditions.
The new regulations come into effect immediately and have been put into place only a few days ahead of the time frame during which H-1B visas are filed. This year, the H-1B visas are expected to be filed on April 2, for the fiscal year 2019, which begins on October 1, 2018.
Courtesy/Source: IB Times
