VISA2US Blog

The OPT program was designed to allow international students to work while in the US receiving a secondary education or for up to one year after graduation. Earlier changes to the program allow STEM students an optional 36-month extension. Opponents of this adaptation claim that it permits tech companies to bypass the typical H-1B work visa program, a notoriously challenging system with a limited annual quota of visas available. However, legal challenges to the OPT extension case have yet to be successful, and the last attempt at the Supreme Court level was also blocked when the Court refused to take the case. This decision to leave the OPT extension as it currently is reflects the importance of the STEM industry globally but impacts the H-1B program in general. Keep reading to learn more.

The topic of green cards and the long wait to obtain one has been part of ongoing legislation for years. In certain countries, individuals have waited years and, in some cases, over a decade to receive their green card. As of the Visa Bulletin’s release of October 1, 2023, there are some major changes on the horizon, but do these help or hinder the green card program? Keep reading to find out.

It’s not a surprise that immigration visas are backlogged for many categories in various countries, particularly India’s H-1B visa. But with a wait time of over ten years for thousands of individuals, it’s understandable that their patience is disappearing. Now, presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is promising to overhaul the H-1B visa program, replacing the outdated system with a more fair process. What is he promising, and how is it being received? We’ll explain here.

Everyone in the immigration world has closely followed the results of FY 2024’s lottery since the first round selection in March. Once US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported a substantial number of potentially fraudulent registrations, we wondered what the effects would be. USCIS announced a second lottery in July to fill the gaps between the accepted registrations and the allotted amount of visas, and the results show even more fraud than was visible during the first round. Read on for the details.

If you’ve been paying attention to the H-1B visa petitions this year, you’ve seen the headlines about the record-setting FY 2024 lottery numbers. However, US Citizenship and Immigration Services attributes this high number to fraudulent attempts of registering multiple registrations of the same individuals. This significant issue heavily impacted the lottery system this year, causing USCIS to review and reform registration processes. But since new data shows that more than 75% of H-1B registrations amongst the individually filed petitions would’ve been rejected anyway, a deeper problem runs through this system. How is USCIS addressing the visible issues from FY 2024’s lottery? Read on to find out.

The United States government understands that there are brilliant minds in other countries, and sometimes, employers in America need to hire outside of the border to fill specialty positions. When that happens, the H-1B visa is an ideal category that potential employers can petition their chosen beneficiaries for. Foreign workers want this coveted visa because it gives them the opportunity to apply for a Permanent Residence card, otherwise known as a Green Card. Delays are part of the process for applicants, but recently, these backlogs have become more time-consuming than usual. What’s going on at USCIS and the Department of Labor to cause these delays? We’ll explain here.

Whether you successfully landed an H-1B visa in the 2023 lottery or not, the reality is that millions of people registered and weren’t selected. This is particularly true in countries like India, where the capped limit on a per-country allocation is 7%. The United States permits a limited number of visas annually, but the amount is split amongst all countries with applicants. This creates a substantial backlog of registrants, all of whom are transferred to the next year. Although this has been the system for decades, many experts say 2023 was the worst year yet. What happened, and how can you learn from the mistakes this year? Read on to find out.

Occasionally in the immigration visa world, there is more demand from a particular country than the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services expected. When that happens, a retrogression may occur. In those circumstances, the State Department pushes back the final action dates for the EB-2, moving them backward instead of the typical forward momentum. This retrogression was recently announced in the USCIS May 2023 Visa bulletin as necessary to keep the number of immigrant visas under the FY 2023 limit.

If you’ve paid attention to the immigration climate in the United States, you’ve heard about the massive layoffs in the tech sector. Many of these workers were H-1B visa holders who rely on steady employment to keep their legal status in the country. Per the H-1B visa’s terms, workers have 60 days to find another employer willing to sponsor their visa status, or they must return to their home country. But with so many people searching for work within similar industries, this is a challenging endeavor. However, a recent workaround may keep thousands of these laid-off tech workers in the US legally while they look for employment, even after their 60-day grace period ends by changing from an H-1B to a B-1 or B-2 visa.

H-1B visas are highly sought-after work documents that allow the holder to enter the United States legally, find housing, and gain employment temporarily. It’s a dual-intent document, so once the holder is in the US, they have permission to start the steps to obtain permanent resident status through a Green Card. Because they also allow the beneficiary’s immediate dependents to move with them, it’s easy to see why this visa category is exceedingly popular with foreign workers around the world. However, recent polls show that one of the countries dominating the H-1B requests is China, and they’re willing to get into the US legally or illegally.