国土安全部30日公布达139页的H1-B申请新规方案。(网络截图)
国土安全部（DHS）11月30日公布139页的“H-1B申请修正方案”，根据该提案，申请H-1B签证的雇主必须先向移民局(USCIS)电子注册参加抽签，待随机抽签完成后，中签者再递交完整文件；此外，新方案将改变抽签顺序，新作业方式，可让持有美国各大学硕士及以上学位申请人的中签率，提高16%。
这项最新的H-1B改革方案，预计在12月3日公布在联邦公报(Federal Register)，并在接下来30天内，开放各界提供意见与评论，如一切顺利，新的申请方式将从明年4月开始施行。
新的方案将对抽签顺序进行调整，原来第一轮是将取得美国各大学硕士及以上学历的申请者，先抽出2万名，如未中签，则可加入其他国内或国外大学及以上学历者，参加第二轮6万5000个常规名额的抽签。
新的抽签顺序，改为只要有国内或国外大学及以上学历，全纳入第一轮6万5000个名额的抽签；在第一轮没有中签，但持有美国各大学硕士及以上学历者，则可参加第二轮2万名额的抽签。
这样的作业顺序，可以使美国大学毕业的高学历持有者，中签率提高16%。
国安部也明确指出，这种改变抽签顺序的新方案，将提高持美国大学硕士及以上学历者的过关人数，相对持有美国大学学士，及外国大学硕士及以上学位者人数将会减少。
此外，新规与以往最大的不同处，就是申请者需先在网上完成电子注册，注册开放时间约为14天，移民局会在开放登记日前30天，公布这项电子注册的开始与截止日期。
雇主在为员工提出职业签证申请时，不需要跟以前一样，在截日止前送出所有完整文件到移民局，而是先在网络填写所要求的基本资料，包括雇主名称、地址被申请人的名字、生日、国籍、性别，以及被申请人学历信息等。
根据新规，国土安全部严禁同一雇主在同一会计年度内，为同一个受益人（beneficiary）提交多份H-1B申请；此外，为防止有部分雇主从网络提交大量电子注册后，一旦中签却没有按照规定补交完成递件，国土安全部与移民局将密切关注此现象；一旦被发现，将由联邦执法机构介入调查是否滥用H-1B或诈欺。
中签后的申请者，移民局会给予60天的时间让其准备材料，中签者会分别收到文件送交的截止日通知。
国土安全部说，近年移民局处理H-1B的工作负荷严重超量，在每年五天的送件期限内，移民局从2013年收到申请件数12万4130件，逐年上升到2017年的19万8460件，其中2016年更达到23万6444件。新规将大幅减少移民局在4月初收到的H-1B申请件，也将减轻退件的繁重工作。
WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period. Under the proposed rule, USCIS would also reverse the order by which USCIS selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption, likely increasing the number of beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to be selected for an H-1B cap number, and introducing a more meritorious selection of beneficiaries.
The H-1B program allows companies in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelors or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent. When USCIS receives more than enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-1B cap, a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, is used to select the petitions that are counted towards the number of petitions projected as needed to reach the cap.
The proposed rule includes a provision that would enable USCIS to temporarily suspend the registration process during any fiscal year in which USCIS may experience technical challenges with the H-1B registration process and/or the new electronic system. The proposed temporary suspension provision would also allow USCIS to up-front delay the implementation of the H-1B registration process past the fiscal year (FY) 2020 cap season, if necessary to complete all requisite user testing and vetting of the new H-1B registration system and process. While USCIS has been actively working to develop and test the electronic registration system, if the rule is finalized as proposed, but there is insufficient time to implement the registration system for the FY 2020 cap selection process, USCIS would likely suspend the registration requirement for the FY 2020 cap season.
Currently, in years when the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption are both reached within the first five days that H-1B cap petitions may be filed, the advanced degree exemption is selected prior to the H-1B cap. The proposed rule would reverse the selection order and count all registrations or petitions towards the number projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap first. Once a sufficient number of registrations or petitions have been selected for the H-1B cap, USCIS would then select registrations or petitions towards the advanced degree exemption. This proposed change would increase the chances that beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education would be selected under the H-1B cap and that H-1B visas would be awarded to the most-skilled and highest-paid beneficiaries. Importantly, the proposed process would result in an estimated increase of up to 16 percent (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected H-1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.
USCIS expects that shifting to electronic registration would reduce overall costs for petitioners and create a more efficient and cost-effective H-1B cap petition process for USCIS. The proposed rule would help alleviate massive administrative burdens on USCIS since the agency would no longer need to physically receive and handle hundreds of thousands of H-1B petitions and supporting documentation before conducting the cap selection process. This would help reduce wait times for cap selection notifications. The proposed rule also limits the filing of H-1B cap-subject petitions to the beneficiary named on the original selected registration, which would protect the integrity of this registration system.
On April 18, 2017, President Trump issued the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order, instructing DHS to “propose new rules and issue new guidance, to supersede or revise previous rules and guidance if appropriate, to protect the interests of U.S. workers in the administration of our immigration system.” The EO specifically mentioned the H-1B program and directed DHS and other agencies to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the most-skilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries.”
Additional information on the proposed rule is available in the Federal Register. Public comments may be submitted starting Monday, December 3, when the proposed rule publishes in the Federal Register, and must be received on or before January 2, 2019.
For more information on USCIS and our programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and Facebook(/uscis).
Source: https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/dhs-proposes-merit-based-rule-more-effective-and-efficient-h-1b-visa-program
