Foreign Students To Face The Heat With New H-1B Rule

The new H-1B selection process announced by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is likely to trouble the foreign students more than anyone else. The H-1B registration selection process is now based on wages. It was earlier based on random selection.

This new selection process will have a major impact on foreign students as most of the qualifying foreign students are sponsored for Level 1, H-1B positions. The USCIS claims otherwise saying that the foreign students will have time during their OPT status to gain experience that can push them to a higher wage level.

Anyway, only STEM students may qualify for three years of OPT and all other international students may qualify for only one year of OPT. Students with master’s degrees and some experience may also get impacted with the new process though they qualify for Level 2 wage positions. As more than 50 percent of the H-1B petitions are filed for Level 2 workers, the students with master’s degrees also may have maximum effect.

Most of the foreign students come from India and China to pursue their masters and then to look for H-1B work visa. With the new selection process denting their chances to work in the USA and continue staying back, the Universities in the USA appear to be concerned about the major fall in the number of students seeking admissions.

The final rule of H-1B selection prioritizes the selection of most highly skilled foreign workers based on their level of experience, salaries, and duties, and the selection goes through to Level 1 positions.

The UK government recently made it official with the liberalized work authorization for graduates in the UK. Canada always welcomes the students and it has simple rules for them to possibly get a Permanent residency and also citizenship at a later point.

Well, the new administration under Biden is expected to revoke many rules on immigration, imposed by Trump’s administration earlier.