US H-1B Visa: There is good news for Indians thinking of getting a job in America. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced the start of H-1B lottery registration for the financial year 2025.
Registration is going to start from March 7, 2025 next month, which will run till March 24, 2025. Companies will be able to register their foreign workers for the H-1B visa lottery. This time USCIS has also announced many changes in the visa system.
This time companies will have to face strict scrutiny. Students who have gone to study in America will also benefit from the new rules. USCIS changes will ensure transparency. One gets a job in America through H-1B visa. This visa is given to those people who have special skills and degree. Every year this visa is given to thousands of people through lottery. Every year 65 thousand H-1B visas are given in America. Apart from this, 20 thousand visas are given to people studying in America.
H-1B visa registration fee increased
USCIS has increased the first-time registration fee from $10 to $215. This has been done so that transparency can be maintained along with following the rules. With the increase in fees, companies will be scrutinized more than before. The employee’s degree and job responsibilities will also be verified. These changes are part of the H-1B Modernization Rule. Its purpose is to meet the needs of American companies and protect foreign workers.
What are the major changes taking place in the visa system?
It is important for companies and applicants to know about the changes in the H-1B lottery. Now companies will be scrutinized more strictly than before. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now going to ask for more documents from companies. Such as contracts and work orders. This will reveal whether there is really a job for the H-1B applicant or not. This is being done so that fake applications are reduced and the right people get jobs.
A major change in the visa system is for students studying on F-1 visas. Cap-gap protection has been extended for them. Cap-gap allows those students whose OPT has expired and who are waiting for an H-1B visa to work. Earlier this protection was till October 1. Now it has been extended till April 1, 2026. Immigration experts said, “This will not cause any hindrance to the job of F-1 OPT students.” They will be able to wait for their H-1B visa comfortably.
What changes have happened for companies?
USCIS is now going to increase monitoring of companies that send H-1B employees to work in a third company. Such companies will have to prove that the employees who have been sent to work at another place are doing specialist work. Earlier, only the company applying for the visa was checked. But now the third company will also be checked. This will ensure that all the rules are being followed. USCIS will also make more site visits to check H-1B jobs.
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