USCIS changes rules for issuing H-1B work visas

February 28 US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opened online portal for companiesseeking to hire foreign employees or applying for H-1B immigrant work visas. The portal can be accessed by company employees responsible for completing visa petitions. To apply, you must create an account on the portal and pay the application fee for an H-1B visa - $10 per application.

Photo: iStock.com/hapabapa

Effective April 1, 2024, USCIS will automatically deny any H-1B and H-1B1 visa applications not submitted through the new portal.

The new system was introduced in order to reduce paperwork and cope with fraud. Previously, when applications for work visas were submitted in the form of separate forms, not united by a single system, unscrupulous companies tried to cheat. They filled out several applications per foreigner to increase his chances of receiving a visa. The annual number of H-1B visas is limited and applications are selected through a lottery. Therefore, multiple applications per person actually increase their chances of getting a US work visa.

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On the new portal, each company will have its own account with basic information about it. Visa applications for all foreign workers the company wants to hire will be linked to this account. Each of them will now have the same chance of being selected because the system will not accept more than one application per person.

Visas will continue to be issued through a lottery. The registration period for applications to participate in it is 14 calendar days each year. After this period, the lottery will be held among correctly submitted electronic applications. IMPORTANT: the drawing will be held after registration closes, that is, all applicants have the same chance of winning - regardless of the moment of registration.

Registration for FY 1 H-2025B visa applications will open on March 6, 2024 at noon Eastern Time and will continue until noon (Eastern Time) on March 22, 2024.

When completing the application, the company must provide valid passport information for each beneficiary. The specified passport or travel document must match the one the beneficiary intends to use to enter the United States if issued with an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary should register with only one passport or travel document.

How the scam worked

In FY 2024, there were 780 H-884B immigration petitions. Of these, 1 met the registration criteria. At the same time, almost 758 thousand of these petitions were registered with violations - several for the same beneficiary.

To avoid fraud in the 2025 financial year, new measures were introduced.

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For more information about the H-1B program, see here.

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