Washington: The United States of America has announced that it will modify the selection process for the H-1B visa. The US will give priority to skills and salary, replacing the current lottery procedures.
The US government announced this on Thursday.
The final rule, which will be published soon will aim to protect the economic interests of U.S. workers. It will further ensure that the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the temporary employment programme.
A non-immigrant visa, H-1B allows the US companies in employing foreign workers in specialised jobs, which require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies of the US depends upon this visa to hire thousands of employees from countries like India and China.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that the modification of the selection process will further encourage employers in offering higher salaries, and also establish a certain path for the businesses to reach the personnel needs and remain competitive globally.
The final rule will further be effective after 60 days of its publication in the Federal Register. The next visa filing session of H-1B visa will start on April 1.
The deputy director for policy of US Citizenship and Immigration Services said, "The H-1B temporary visa programme has been exploited and abused by employers primarily seeking to fill entry-level positions and reduce overall business costs."
He further added, "The current H-1B random selection process makes it difficult for businesses to plan their hiring, fails to leverage the programme to compete for the best and brightest international workforce, and has predominantly resulted in the annual influx of foreign labour placed in low-wage positions at the expense of U.S. workers."
A proposed rule of the modification will have a positive impact on the US employees and college-educated US citizens, who take loans for their education. It will make it harder for technology companies to discriminate against US citizens. The companies are laying off the US citizens since they are outsourcing for profits. The rule is important for US citizens as the Indian corporations are getting US jobs.