US Scraps Trump’s Proposed Rule on H-1B Visa

Key Highlights:

• Overview
• Withdrawal of the Rule
• Lottery-Based System

The United States government has now withdrawn a significant regulation on the famous H-1B visa that the Donald Trump administration proposed.

Withdrawal of the Rule

This move was announced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This rule was supposed to come into effect in March this year and was one of the last proposals of the Donald Trump administration.

The previous US government under President Donald Trump had published a regulation on January 8 that would change the way the H-1B visas are awarded to applications, shifting from the traditional lottery system to one focussed on ranking and salary level.

However, in September, the District Judge for Northern California cancelled the rule, followed by the Department of Homeland Security and now the USCIS removing the proposed changes.

Lottery-Based System

The USCIS uses the traditional lottery-based system to award the H-1B visa when the applications filed by companies exceed the nominal cap of 85,000. As of today, the companies have registered over 300,000 applications.

This decision is sure to cheer up Indian technology companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys, as they are among the largest users of this visa, according to a 2020 report by the New York Times.

When protesting against the move, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) said that giving more priority to the salary level would have damaged many industries. 

“We believe it is important for the US to be able to access talent critical to the COVID recovery phase,” it said, adding that “The visa program bridges a critical skills gap, enabling America to become more competitive globally.”