Trump Proposes to Abolish the H-1B Lottery System

It was only recently when policies on H-1B were vastly tightened, although whether those rules will stay effective is still to be found out. While the Trump administration is still in lawsuits with universities and company alliances for the last H-1B rule, they proposed a new one, again. The Trump administration has proposed to abolish the H-1B lottery system.

Under the current system, the USCIS conducts a lottery and selects petitioners randomly when the cap of 65,000 for regular petitioners and 20,000 for higher academic degree petitioners are reached. A petitioner can only be qualified after being selected. Under the new rule, petitioners would be selected based on their wage levels when the cap is reached. Those with the highest earnings will be prioritized.

If this new system is implemented, petitioners with lower income have no chance of being selected. Under the current system, the USCIS conducts a lottery and selects petitioners randomly when the cap of 65,000 for regular petitioners and 20,000 for higher academic degree petitioners are reached. A petitioner can only be qualified after being selected.

Under the new rule, petitioners would be selected based on their wage levels when the cap is reached. Those with the highest earnings will be prioritized. If this new system is implemented, petitioners with lower income have no chance of being selected.

International students will be facing an even harsher situation. For most students, job searching after graduation alone is already difficult enough. Do not even mention that COVID has only made it worse. On top of that, their jobs would have to pay them top-wages in the industry.

Even implemented, this rule would only be applicable when the number of petitions exceeds the annual cap. The competition for the H-1B visa has remained intense for years. For the 2021 FY cap season, 275,000 petitions were received. The number well surpassed the 85,000 annual caps, which has been the case for every season.

Therefore, it is safe to conclude that it is almost impossible for the number of petitions to reach the cap, which means the new system will likely be frequently effective.

As of now, the rule is nowhere near official. The DHS still needs to gather public opinions before taking any next steps. The policy will likely be adjusted accordingly.

Although it is still unknown when this system will affect if it will at all, we do know for sure that, considering the previous new rules that raised prevailing wages, the Trump administration will weigh income levels even more heavily when examining H-1B petitions in the future.

 

H-1B又遭重大改革！抽签制度面临废除，毕业后留美工作将成历史？

不久之前H-1B政策的全面收紧才刚刚出炉，并且究竟是否会继续执行还是一个未知数。就在特朗普政府还在为了上一条规定和各个大学与商业联盟打官司的时候，新一轮折腾又开始了。特朗普提议废除H-1B抽签制。

没了解过H-1B的小伙伴们可能不知道：常规H-1B的名额每年有6万5千份，高学历H-1B有2万份。当申请人数超过名额数量时，移民局会进行随机抽签，被抽中才有资格继续下一步申请。然而特朗普政府的计划是：在申请人数超过名额后，移民局按照申请人收入高低作出决定。

申请人将会按照收入高低排列。移民局会优先给收入高的申请者颁发H-1B资格，依次向下。这项改革完成后，收入较低的人群基本是不可能拿到H-1B了。

H-1B的工资标准分为4个等级。第一等级最低，第四等级最高。每个等级的金额划分在各个工作岗位和行业中各不相同。按照本来的抽签方式，这四个等级的申请人都被混在一起随机选择，大家一起拼运气。

但抽签方式改革以后，优先选择工资最高者，第一等级工资最低的申请者毫无机会。第二等级的申请者还能拼拼人品碰运气。第三，第四等级的高薪大佬们被抽中的几率是100%。

如果这项规定正式运转，留学生们就又一次悲惨躺枪了。疫情后毕业找到工作就算运气好了。一上来就要求他们当年入百万的人上人，留学生的内心：“移民局，你行你上啊！”

虽然这套抽签方案只会在申请人数超过批准名额时才会投入使用，但是谁都知道H-1B每年的竞争激烈程度。光是2021财年的申请就多达27.5万份，远远超过了8.5万人的名额。往年的申请数量也都远超名额数量。申请人数小于被批准人数上限基本是不可能的。

这份草案还没有被正式批准。目前国土安全部还在收集公众意见，之后会对规章内容进行调整。离这套新系统投入还有一段时间，但结合特朗普政府之前大幅增长薪酬标准的规定来看，各机关是铁了心要把薪酬标准作为重要的H-1B衡量标准。