US announces overhaul of annual lottery for H1B visas

Washington: The US has announced a major overhaul of its annual lottery for the H1B speciality occupation visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, to curtail the potential for fraud and improve and streamline the registration system.

Separately, the US on Monday has formally launched a pilot programme to renew the much sought-after H1B visas domestically, a move that is likely to benefit thousands of Indian tech professionals. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The new overhauled system, among other things, includes the provision of a beneficiary-centric selection process for registrations by employers.

As a result, unlike in the past when multiple applications by an individual often resulted in abuse in fraud of the system, the H1B visa applications would now be counted and accepted based on individual applicants.

Even if one individual files multiple applications for various companies, they would be counted as one application based on their personal credentials like passport numbers.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced a set of new rules which are aimed at strengthening the integrity of and reducing the potential for fraud in the H1B registration process.

This includes reducing the potential for gaming the registration system and ensuring each beneficiary would have the same chance of being selected, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf, the federal agency said on Tuesday.

"We're always looking for ways to bolster integrity and curtail the potential for fraud while improving and streamlining our application processes," said USCIS Director Ur M Jaddou.

"The improvements in these areas should make H1B selections more equitable for petitioners and beneficiaries and will allow for the H1B process to be fully electronic from registration, if applicable, until final decision and transmission of approved petitions to the Department of State," he said.

USCIS also said the initial registration period for the fiscal 2025 H1B cap will open at noon on March 6 and run through March 22.

During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, if applicable, must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary.

Starting February 28, companies will be allowed to open their account which can be used to start and complete the registration process.

USCIS said this final rule contains provisions that will create a beneficiary-centric selection process for registrations by employers, codify start date flexibility for certain petitions subject to the congressionally mandated H1B cap, and add more integrity measures related to the registration process.

According to USCIS, under the beneficiary-centric process, registrations will be selected by a unique beneficiary rather than by registration. This new process is designed to reduce the potential for fraud and ensure each beneficiary would have the same chance of being selected, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf by an employer, it said.

Starting with fiscal 2025, which begins on October 1, 2024, initial registration period, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary.

The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the United States if issued an H1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document, it said.

USCIS is also clarifying requirements regarding the requested employment start date on certain petitions subject to the congressionally mandated H1B cap to permit filing with requested start dates that are after October 1 of the relevant fiscal year, consistent with current policy.

Also, the H1B final rule codifies USCIS' ability to deny or revoke H1B petitions where the underlying registration contained a false attestation or was otherwise invalid. Also under the new rule, USCIS may deny or revoke the approval of an H1B petition if it determines that the fee associated with the registration is declined, not reconciled, disputed, or otherwise invalid after submission, it said.