The Joe Biden administration on Tuesday announced that it has completely removed the H1-B visa rule that was introduced by the Donald Trump administration back in 2020.
In October 2020, the Trump administration had sought to narrow the definitions of the H1-B visa rule in order to ensure US companies make ‘real offers’ to ‘deserving’ immigrants and not hire foreigners as ‘low cost’ substitutes against qualified Americans.
A bachelor’s degree wasn’t sufficient under that rule. Instead, a bachelor’s degree in a specific field related to the job was required.
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However, the rule wasn’t implemented as it was vacated by a court. But now, the department of homeland security has removed it altogether from the Code of Federal Rules.
USA grants 85,000 H-1B visas every year under a congressionally mandated cap to American companies to hire foreign workers to make up for the shortage of qualified workers locally.
Out of these 85,000 visas, more than 70% go to Indian professionals hired from India by companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft. US subsidised Indian companies like Infosys, TCS and Wipro also take advantage of this visa.
Speciality occupation means “an occupation which requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialised knowledge in fields of human endeavour… and which requires the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific speciality, or its equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States”. It will go back to what it was before October 2020.
