The analysis of the

H1B visa changes

from 1990 to 2019
YOUR COMPLIANCE
OUR ASSURANCE
 Brief analysis of the H-1B visa changes since 1990

FY 1990
This is the year in which George H. Bush has signed the Immigration Act, 1990 with an annual cap of 65,000 on the visas. Though there are
pre-existing labor laws, this act has differentiated the high skilled workers from the low skilled workers. This has also increased legal
immigration by 40%.

FY 1998
This year President Bill Clinton has signed the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act(ACWIA) of 1998. After the US
Commerce Department has issued a report predicting an upcoming shortage of high-tech workers. This Act has raised the annual cap on
the H-1B visas to 115,000 for the years 1999 and 2000.

FY 2000
Clinton had signed the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act(AC21). According to this Act, the annual cap on H-1B
visas is set as 195,000. This cap was set only for the years 2001-2003, after which it was reverted to 65,000.

FY 2003
The H-1B visas available from this year are reduced from 65,000 to 58,200. The remaining visas are reserved for Singaporeans and
Chileans according to the free trade agreements between these countries.

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 Brief analysis of the H-1B visa changes since 1990

FY 2004
According to the H-1B Visa Reform Act 2004, students graduated from a US institution with a master’s degree or higher are eligible for a
lottery prior to the mandated lottery. This lottery allows 20,000 slots for these students. If these slots are filled, the remaining applicants are
added back into the annual lottery. The ACWIA has also increased the visa fees from $1000 to $1500. But the companies with 25 or fewer
employees pay $750.

FY 2015
A company with 50% foreign immigrants & having 50 or more employees in the US should pay an additional fee of $4000 from this year.
Many Indian IT majors were worst hit by this new law. But this year also opened doors for the spouses of H-1B workers to apply for their
own EAD.

FY 2017
Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, the non-immigrant are the worst affected with the latest H-1B visa changes.

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 Administrative measures undertaken by the US government
to bring in many H-1B visa changes
MARCH 2017
The USCIS has raised the qualifying criteria for the specialty occupation.

APRIL 2017
President Donald Trump signed the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order, which aims at higher wages and employment rates for
the US workers. These proposed changes have an adverse effect on India’s IT sector.

JUNE 2017
During this month, Trump signed an order striking out a part of the 2012 order which was signed by the former president Barack Obama.
The previous order was signed to “ensure that 80% of non-immigrants visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of receipt of
application”

AUGUST 2017
The visa application is made tougher with the proposed changes to the Labor Condition Application (LCA)t

DECEMBER 2017
The DHS and the USCIS published notices that they are intended on proposing several changes to the H-1B and H-4 visa programmes
along with cutting back the STEM OPT programme, which allows foreign students to stay for longer in the US after finishing their studies.

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 Administrative measures undertaken by the US government
to bring in many H-1B visa changes

FEBRUARY 2018
A policy memorandum is issued to mandate stricter adjudicatory standards and oversight for H-1Bs that will be placed at third-party client
sites. While RFEs get more and more complicated, the administrative burdens and the associated costs are on the rise. The Decision-
making timeline on revoking the H-4 EAD is also pushed from February to June.

MARCH 2018
USCIS has made an announcement to temporarily halt the premium processing facility for the H-1B visa applicants.

JULY 2018
The DHS has once again missed the deadline for making a decision on the H-4 EAD programme.

SEPTEMBER 2018
H-4 EAD provision is undergoing review process and was to be submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

OCTOBER 2018
The Trump administration announced their plans to redefine the ‘specialty occupations’ for H-1B visa eligibility.

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 Administrative measures undertaken by the US government
to bring in many H-1B visa changes

NOVEMBER 2018
A new rule was proposed giving preference to master’s students from the US universities, allowing them for the general CAP first, and then
adding the remaining in the master’s-and-above ‘20,000’ category. This rule ensures that “more of the best and brightest workers from
around the world come to America” under the H-1B process.

JANUARY 2019
A new tweet from Mr. Trump states that “H1-B holders in the United States can rest assured that changes are soon coming which will bring
both simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a potential path to citizenship, we want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to
pursue career options in the U.S." Though the tweet is a promising one for the non-immigrants, it is still unclear in the case of ‘path to
citizenship’.

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