18:48 23 January 2020
Changes in US immigration policies
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced further changes to its visa application process for tech experts who want to work in the US. The changes will come into effect from April.
According to the USCIS, employers will now need to register in advance the names of employees who need work permits.
The agency will then select those of the registered candidates who it views as eligible to apply for an H1-B visa, which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreigners in specialty occupations.
This will lengthen the whole visa process as the H1-B visa season will now begin in March and end in June/July, unlike in previous years when the season began in March and ran till the second week of April.
Despite the changes to the H1-B visa regulations, the USCIS points out that the O-1 visa option still remains uncapped for talents wishing to work with US tech companies.
According to Liran Jakob Rosenfeld, the founder and CEO of PassRight, a relocation firm, the O-1 visa is these days the best choice for tech experts as O-1 visa talents are recognized as people with extraordinary skills in their field of work.
In fact, despite the harsh US immigration policies, 98 percent of O-1 visa applicants from PassRight received their visas in 2019.
(WBJ)
