Proposed H-1B changes for 2019

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed rule on Friday, November 30, 2018. The new provisions, if approved. would implemented two main changes to the current way of conducting the H-1B cap lottery. The changes would only affect employers who are filing new, cap-subject, petitions. The process for H-1B extensions or amendments is unchanged.
​
(a) Employers would have to register online before submitting a full H-1B petition. The registration process would ask for information about the company and about the foreign worker. Employers need to send a separate registration for each proposed H-1B employee and registration will start 14 days before the cap season starts (April 1).

(b) USCIS will change the order in which it selects cases in the lottery. Currently, CIS selects the 20,000 Master's degree cap petitions first. Unsuccessful applications are then added to the general pool, and a second lottery is conducted for the 65,000 regular H-1B cap number. The new rule proposes to reverse this -  selecting the 65,000 first and then selecting the 20,000 Master's cases from those that were not selected in the first round. CIS estimates that this change would result in approximately 16% more (or 5,340 workers) Master's degree holders being selected in the lottery.

Employers will only need to file full petitions and supporting evidence if their case is selected in the H-1B lottery. This should reduce the cost to employers, who have needed to file a full H-1B package even if the case was not ultimately chosen for processing. The full petitions would be filed within 60 days of the lottery, and CIS might allow for different filing periods to stagger the workload.

For more information about these changes, or other immigration questions, contact Elaine Martin for a free initial phone consultation.