Washington: The required process of filing petitions for most sought after H-1B visa begins today amidst unprecedented scrutiny by the Trump led administration. The visa is in demand in Indian skilled professionals.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS has issued a strong indication about its zero tolerance for even the minutest of errors possible. The federal agency is responsible for processing of H-1B visas.

As per the reports the immigration attorneys have high rate of expectations of rejection.

The H-1B is non-immigrant visa that permits US companies to employ workers from foreign workers in specialty occupations that

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in general. The technology companies of United States depend on it to hire tens of thousands of foreign employees each year from countries like India.

The visa has an annual cap limit on its numbers by 65,000 visas for each fiscal year which was mandated by the Congress. The first 20,000 petitions which are filed on behalf of beneficiaries holding a US master’s degree or higher one are exempt from the cap.

Just days ahead in the beginning of the H-1B application process for the fiscal year 2019 which starts from October 1 this year, USCIS had issued warning that applications which come out to be duplicates will be out rightly rejected. As per the previous years, filing of duplicate petitions by companies with the aim of having a greater chance to get through the visa lottery process was a normal practice.

USCIS has also indicated that it will reject all those H-1B visa applications with the request of an earlier employment start date or a start date of with request “As Soon As Possible” or “ASAP.”

Beginning today, USCIS has as of now suspended premium processing temporarily as it requires greater scrutiny of all petitions with more man hours.

“We will announce the start date for premium processing in the near future,” USCIS said in a statement.

And regarding computerized draw of lots which was the case in earlier years after receiving several times more than the Congressional mandated cap of H-1B visas, the USCIS has not indicated about any such plans.

“Complete all sections of the form accurately The petitioner should include a copy of the beneficiary’s valid passport,” USCIS said.

If the applicant wants an extension of stay or change of status, he/she should include supportive evidence to establish that the beneficiary will maintain a valid nonimmigrant status through the employment start date being requested, USCIS said in its filing tips.

Given the general campaign done against highly skilled Indian professionals, the applications by Indian companies are likely to face a greater scrutiny of all these petitions. As in the previous years, Indian companies would have to pay much more fee per application in comparison with other countries. On an average they are needed to pay USD 6,000 to the federal government per H-1B application.

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