The US has received nearly 275,000 unique registration requests for the Congressional mandated 85,000 H-1B visas for foreign technology professionals, of which more than 67 per cent are from India, a federal body said on Wednesday.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
As mandated by the US Congress, US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS can every year issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B work visas to highly skilled foreign workers. It can issue an additional 20,000 H-1B visas to those highly skilled foreign workers who have obtained masters or higher degree from an American educational institution.
The USCIS said on Wednesday that the successful H-1B registrants from the 275,000 unique registrations that it received before March 20 can start submitting their formal application from April 1. They have been given 90 days to submit their application by paper. The USCIS selected the successful H-1B registrants last month based on a random draw of lots.
Nearly 275,000 unique registrations were submitted during the initial registration period. Roughly 46 per cent of all registrations were for prospective beneficiaries with US advanced degrees, it said.
"There were more than 40,000 registration accounts created, and nearly 81 per cent of submitted registrations were for potential beneficiaries from India (67.7 per cent) and China (13.2 per cent)," the USCIS said.
Prior to the launch of the electronic registration system, it conducted robust public outreach to ensure users were equipped to effectively use the new system. The H-1B electronic registration process was well-received by users, who provided a high satisfaction score with the system, jt said.
"The new H-1B electronic registration system has been an overall success. As a result of this modernized process, the amount of paper and data exchanged between USCIS and petitioners will dramatically decrease this year, said USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow.
"The positive feedback received by users of the H-1B registration system, the limited amount of technical issues experienced during the registration period, and the ability to immediately respond to questions from registrants was the result of a comprehensive effort developed over the course of more than a year. This new registration system is one of many ways USCIS is improving the H-1B program," he said.
The USCIS said that an H-1B cap-subject petition must be properly filed within the period indicated on the relevant registration selection notice.
The period for filing the H-1B cap-subject petition will be at least 90 days. Online filing is not available for H-1B petitions, so petitioners seeking to file H-1B petitions must do so by paper. Petitioners must include a printed copy of the applicable registration selection notice with the FY 2021 H-1B cap-subject petition, it added.
Petitioners filing H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must still establish eligibility for petition approval at the time the petition is filed and through adjudication, based on existing statutory and regulatory requirements, the USCIS said.
Selection in the registration process does not relieve the petitioner from submitting evidence or otherwise establishing eligibility, as registration only pertains to eligibility to file the H-1B cap-subject petition, it asserted.
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