Next year witch companies packup antunnaru

[greensboro]

Skilled Worker Visa Lottery Could Favor Advanced Degree Holders

Posted Oct. 23, 2018, 5:21 AM

By Laura D. Francis

• New proposed rule could reorder H-1B process
• Small shift could increase number with advanced degrees

A master’s degree could be the winning ticket in the scramble for skilled worker visas next year as the federal government seeks changes to the H-1B lottery.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has signaled that it wants to skew the lottery for the skilled guestworker visas to favor workers with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. The agency has finished a proposed regulation on the issue that would also create a preregistration process for employers seeking workers on H-1B visas.

USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna recently told Bloomberg Law in an exclusive interview that he’s aiming to have the regulation finalized by the time the next H-1B lottery rolls around in April. The proposal currently is being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the last step before being officially published and opened up for public input.

The agency conducts a lottery for H-1B skilled guestworker visas because demand has dwarfed the supply of 85,000 per year. Allowing employers to preregister for the lottery would mean an employer wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of putting together petitions and supporting documents until after it’s certain it’s been selected.

Master’s or Higher

The most recent description of the proposal contains a plan to “increase the probability of the total number of petitions selected under the cap filed for H-1B beneficiaries who possess a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education each fiscal year.” It also hints that wage levels could be in the mix, per a directive from President Donald Trump’s Buy American and Hire American executive order.

But it may not be all that easy to create preferences for both U.S. advanced degree holders and those making the most money,Michael Nowlan of Clark Hill in Detroit told Bloomberg Law.

H-1B workers with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities are likely to be hired straight out of school and so would earn lower, entry-level wages, Hill said. Anyone hired at wages associated with greater experience is more likely to have obtained a degree outside the U.S., he said.

In limited circumstances, there could be workers with an advanced U.S. degree who also merit higher levels of pay, but they aren’t numerous enough to meet the annual cap on H-1B visas, Nowlan said.

A representative for the USCIS didn’t respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment.

‘Dramatic Change’

It’s questionable as to whether the law allows the USCIS to make such a change by regulation, Chad Blocker of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy in Los Angeles told Bloomberg Law. Creating a list of weighted criteria that determines an order of preference is a “dramatic change” that would require congressional approval, he said.

But Congress did indicate a preference for advanced degrees, Howard University professor Ron Hira told Bloomberg Law. Lawmakers set aside an additional 20,000 H-1B visas, over and above the regular cap of 65,000, for workers with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions, he said.

“Congress didn’t anticipate that the program would be immediately oversubscribed,” Hira said. That’s why there’s no language in the Immigration and Nationality Act about a lottery, he said.

A lawsuit challenging the lottery was tossed by a federal judge in Oregon in March 2017. The lottery was a reasonable way for the USCIS to meet its obligation to adjudicate H-1Bs “in the order in which petitions are filed” when hundreds of thousands are received on the same day, he said. The employer that brought the case appealed the decision but later decided to drop it.

“If they change the regulation to give preference” to workers with advanced degrees and/or higher pay, “then they likely have the power to do it,” Nowlan said.

Reorder Lottery

Simply reordering the way the agency conducts the lottery would benefit advanced degree holders, Hira said.

The USCIS currently runs a lottery for the 20,000 master’s degree slots first, then puts the unsuccessful bidders from that lottery into the pool for the remaining 65,000 visas, he said. Based on the figures from the most recent lottery, that gave advanced degree holders a 45 percent chance of being selected in the lottery for the 65,000 cap, he said. But if the lottery were held for the 65,000 first, that would give advanced degree holders a 50.4 percent chance of being selected during that portion of the process, Hira said.

The difference is a total of 48,998 advanced degree holders getting H-1Bs under the first scenario, and 52,786 under the second, he said.

“It’s not going to make a huge difference,” but it’s also a policy move that’s likely to escape criticism, Hira said.

Uncertain Effects

It’s hard to say what the practical effect would be of tilting the lottery toward favoring advanced degree holders without knowing the specifics of the proposal, Blocker said.

But “there seems to be the built-in assumption” that someone with a master’s degree performing work at that level “is intrinsically more valuable” than someone with a bachelor’s degree, he said. “I don’t know if that’s the case in every situation.”

“The number of people who would be allowed to get an H-1B would go down,” Nowlan said. “I do feel that this is designed to make immigration harder and scarier, to limit the number of people who are here,” he said.

 

[kevinUsa]

eb2 kuda only us masters ante saripotundi 

[Doravaru]

1 minute ago, kevinUsa said:

eb2 kuda only us masters ante saripotundi 

Yes.. already approved petitions for non US Masters vi reject or long hold lo ki pedtharu

[Mr Mirchi]

Repu dheeni amma mogudu news inkoti vasthadhi.. appudu e news fake antaaru.....

 

ivi anni sollu.. jaragavu pettavu

[kevinUsa]

1 minute ago, Doravaru said:

Yes.. already approved petitions for non US Masters vi reject or long hold lo ki pedtharu

adi kadu   eppati varaku approve ayina petitions and GC vachina vallavi kuda revoke cheyali 

manam ikka  paisal katti ms cheste mana line vachi vallu nila badithe ela bro..  valla line vallaku mana line manaku 

[Doravaru]

Just now, kevinUsa said:

adi kadu   eppati varaku approve ayina petitions and GC vachina vallavi kuda revoke cheyali 

manam ikka  paisal katti ms cheste mana line vachi vallu nila badithe ela bro..  valla line vallaku mana line manaku 

I agree... witch companies through ochi EB3 porting petkoni MS poragalla line no 10gabettinanduku valla GCs revoke cheyyali

[Doravaru]

2 minutes ago, Mr Mirchi said:

Repu dheeni amma mogudu news inkoti vasthadhi.. appudu e news fake antaaru.....

 

ivi anni sollu.. jaragavu pettavu

Edaina jaragochu 

[NeneRajuNeneManthri]

6 minutes ago, kevinUsa said:

adi kadu   eppati varaku approve ayina petitions and GC vachina vallavi kuda revoke cheyali 

manam ikka  paisal katti ms cheste mana line vachi vallu nila badithe ela bro..  valla line vallaku mana line manaku 

Masters lo entha kattav antaru janalu. Typical Indians 

[kevinUsa]

1 minute ago, Doravaru said:

I agree... witch companies through ochi EB3 porting petkoni MS poragalla line no 10gabettinanduku valla GCs revoke cheyyali

Ihave  cousin who lives in aus cheputadu  meru ms chesinanduku meku priority ivvali ani 

[kevinUsa]

Just now, NeneRajuNeneManthri said:

Masters lo entha kattav antaru janalu. Typical Indians 

20k fees 

malli accommodation  chala kattamu paisal 

[Hitman]

1 minute ago, kevinUsa said:

20k fees 

malli accommodation  chala kattamu paisal 

Scholarships ..no?

[kevinUsa]

1 minute ago, Hitman said:

Scholarships ..no?

ma uni ku memu paisal kadithe run ayye paristiti 

every sem fee penche vadu 509per hr  start ayi final ga 620$ per hr pay chesamu 

btw i went to a state university not npu/svu.

[tokkalogola]

chala chusam ilantivi ... implement ayinappudu alochidam

[boeing747]

witch will find loopholes

[tennisluvr]

15 minutes ago, kevinUsa said:

ma uni ku memu paisal kadithe run ayye paristiti 

every sem fee penche vadu 509per hr  start ayi final ga 620$ per hr pay chesamu 

btw i went to a state university not npu/svu.

Ika mana @kumarUncle paristithi ento