Proposals for electronic registration process for US H-1B visas to cut costs

United States, 5th March: The US immigration department has proposed for streamlining the processing of US H-1B work visas in a bid to reduce costs for the businesses.

As per the official announcement, the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) has asked for an improved processing system for the US H-1B visas.

If approved, the new process will enable employers making applications for the US H-1B visas to make electronic registrations and help in knowing the eligibility instantly.

This will not just save precious time but also the costs involved. The US H-1B visas are sought for hiring high skilled immigrant workers including IT professionals in the US.

The electronic registration process aims to cut the strain on employers filing applications that get rejected due to insufficient slots. The USCIS has uploaded the new proposals in the Federal Register and the proposed rules have already been published on 3rd March 2011.

The US government is seeking comments from the public until May 2, 2011. Under the new improved electronic registration process of the US H-1B visas, employers will make electronic registrations with the US immigration department well in advance of the stated application period.

And if the USCIS finds that the number of petitions are likely to exceed the available quota for the US H-1B visas, then the registrations will be frozen immediately.

The next step will be that the number of registrations exceeding the quota will be selected randomly by the USCIS.

As a result, petitions for the selected registrations will be filed by employers. This will save costs and the effort of the employers for filling tedious petitions for US H-1B visas.

According to director of USCIS, Alejandro Mayorkas, the new rule, if approved, will create a cost-effective and an efficient process for businesses wanting to hire foreign workers having skills in specialty occupations to the US.

As per the USCIS, the new system will result in total savings worth $23 million over the period of ten years for businesses.

The US H-1B visa scheme was launched by Congress way back in 1990 to help US employers hire foreign workers having qualifications in specialty occupations like the IT. The annual quota for the US H-1B visas varies from one year to another.