IT firms hit H1B hurdle as US acts tough on visas for entry-level workers

As the Donald Trump government backs immigration of more high-skilled workers and programmers, H1B visa applications by entry-level workers face “innumerable” requests for further evidence (RFE) that they will be taking up complex jobs at higher salaries in the US. 

Law firms have seen a surge in such queries from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for entry-level (Level-I) petitions or jobs. 

“An RFE from the USCIS is not new. But this time we have received innumerable RFEs, almost for all petitions filed for entry-level jobs with the USCIS.  There was a policy change for computer programmers at Level-I jobs and hence RFEs for such petitions are understandable. However, we are receiving RFEs for all types of jobs in the entry-level category, including technical analysts, content matter experts and other jobs,” said Poorvi Chothani, managing partner at LawQuest, a global immigration and employment law firm. 

Since Trump became the US President, he has been implementing his election promise of restricting immigrants’ entry into the US. Since then, a few laws have been enacted in the US to increase minimum wages for H1B visa-holders to protect jobs of Americans.  

In January, a California lawmaker Zoe Lofgren introduced a Bill in the US Congress to force companies employing workers with H1B visas to double the pay to $130,000 a year. Later, the US administration named Indian IT services firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and the US-based Cognizant, accusing them of paying lower wages than those set by the Department of Labour. 

The US also claimed “that only 5 per cent of the H1B visa holders in 2015 earned higher wages set by the Department of Labour, while four out of five workers were paid less than the median wage”. These firms, however, denied such claims. 

Indian IT firms are likely to find the new regime “challenging” as they still send many entry-level software engineers to the US to work on projects.

Chothani believes that this time the circumstances have been “unusual”. “In the past, majority of petitions that received RFEs were eventually approved by the USCIS. We will have to wait and see what happens this time.”

Earlier, entry-level applications never saw such stringent verification by the USCIS. “In FY15, 41 per cent of all approved H1B applications were at Level-I wage,” said a San Francisco Chronicle report, quoting the Economic Policy Institute.

Rajesh Gupta, India partner at IT consultancy firm ISG, said such an approach by the US administration could mean ongoing efforts to allow entry of high-skilled and highly paid software  professionals. 

Experts say that, according to USCIS, high-skilled worker today means an individual working on machine-learning projects and not on Java. 

“There is a clear shortage of high-skilled technology professionals in the US. A rise in such queries could be on two accounts. While US administration is trying to check whether there has been a hike in wage for Level-I and other applicants; they would also like to check whether others who are highly skilled are paid the right wages set by the US government,” pointed out Gupta. 

He said such scrutiny might result in a delay in bringing highly skilled resources into the US.

Trade Headwinds

• A large chunk of Indian IT employees work in the US on H1B visas
• USCIS to conduct strict reviews for many Level-I or entry-level petitions for H1B
• Large number of repeat evidence requests sent to companies
• Rigorous checks on wages and skill sets for H1B visas
• RFEs may mean uncertainties in visa issuance
• A Bengaluru-based small firm received two such RFEs