Speculation grows on who would be eligible for additional visas.
By American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: If the immigration reforms – currently in the Senate, with a House version to be presented after Memorial Day – is made into law by October 1st of this year, then there is an opportunity for those who did not make the cut for the H1B visa lottery this year, to again be considered since 45,000 visas would immediately become available, apart from an additional 5,000 visas for those who holds graduate degrees from universities in the US.
According to the proposals now in the Senate, the H1B work visas, which is now currently at 65,000 visas per year in the general category – which has reached its cap after more applicants vied for it, and finally USCIS had to conduct a lottery system to select applicants – would go up to 110,000 visas if made into law. An additional 10,000 visas would to be added to the cap each year, till a maximum of 180,000 visas are available after seven years, though there is the provision that enough jobs should be available in a growing economy for the visa numbers to increase year after year.
However, even if the proposals become law, it is not clear how the USCIS would go about distributing the additional 45,000 visas that would become available this year. Would they only consider those who were left out of the lottery or open it all over again, which would mean that some companies who had issued an offer letter to a prospective employee, but could not secure a visa for him or her, would now have to pay all over again for that candidate, without the assurance that the additional at least $5,000 they would spend would bear results or not.
It would also be not fair for companies to keep applying for candidates and not get a visa. Already, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Indian companies like Infosys is the additional visa cost which is telling on their bottom line as well. The entire purpose of the immigration reforms is to make sure that a lottery system should be used as there should be enough jobs for candidates who apply.
Also, the additional 5,000 visas that would become available for those who have completed graduate level degrees from universities here would be pertinent only for students from STEM fields, according to the proposals in the Senate.
However, according to some lawyers, a student who has done, for example, a graduate program in film making at a university here, but has an engineering or any STEM related degree from India, may still qualify for it, because of the degree from India. There is still a lot of confusion as to how it will finally take shape though.
However, even under the STEM proposals, there is some confusion as to which all subjects it would cover here, as there has been speculation that some subjects in the pure sciences may be left out from the STEM category, which is heavily tilted towards programs like Computers Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Statistics.
To contact the author, email to: editor@americanbazaaronline.com