Jan 2, 2022

Image source federalregister.gov

Tossing and tossing, with twists and turns, and finally returned to the original starting point. Someone ridiculed: Trump's New Deal was dead before implementation. It seems that the US government still failed to withstand the pressure of public opinion and finally compromised.

For students who are not sure about the entire incident, let’s review it in timeline below:

October 2020:

The then-U.S. President Trump introduced an H-1B New Deal, which everyone called the most stringent policy in 20 years. This policy requires that the minimum wage for H-1B visa applications be significantly increased, the professional restrictions for applicants should be raised, and the original random lottery method should be replaced.

January 7, 2020:

This new rule was officially passed and will take effect 60 days later. The new policy will allocate signatures based on the level of the position, and provide high-paid overseas employees with the priority to draw lots.

January 20, 2021:

On the day of Biden's inauguration, this new lottery rule was suspended again, and was finally announced to be postponed until December 31 to officially take effect. Nowadays, the plan cannot keep up with the changes. Just a week before the New Deal was about to officially take effect, news suddenly came out that it had been revoked, which undoubtedly relieved all the friends with identity problems.

Why does the New Deal make many people, especially new gard and overseas students, oppose? We compare the two policies together, and the difference is quite big:

Random lottery system: The annual quota of H1B visas is 85,000, and applicants are selected through random lottery.

In the first round, everyone, regardless of their academic qualifications, must first participate in the draw from the 65,000 regular quota. After the second round, applicants with a postgraduate degree or above who did not win the first round will participate in the drawing of 20,000 places for advanced degrees.

Level salary system: H1B will be allocated according to salary level.

Level 1: The minimum standard, equivalent to 45% of the salary in the industry;

Level 2: Corresponding to 62% of industry salary

Level 3: Corresponding to 78% of the industry salary, can be regarded as an industry elite;

Level 4: The highest level, corresponding to 95% of the industry salary

Level IV applicants are given priority, and then to Level III applicants, and so on, until the quota is used up. If all Level IV and Level III applicants receive H1B, there are still places left, and Level II applicants are eligible to draw lots.

Therefore, according to the Level salary system, if the applicant does not reach the Level 2 salary level, they will not be eligible for H-1B. For those new gards with a low starting salary, they will almost directly "kill". The original random lottery system allows many Level II and Level I applicants to have the same lottery opportunities as Level IV and Level III.

The following are the two officially announced winning rates under the two lottery systems, so it will be more intuitive!

The probability that applicants with Level 1 salary system will get the quota is 0%

The probability of a random lottery system for applicants at Level 1 getting a place is 31.5%

USCIS also released data. U.S. employers filed 2021 H1B visa applications for nearly 275,000 employees , an increase of 37% from last year's application season , and the approval rate was nearly 15% higher than that during Trump's tenure .

In addition, it is worth mentioning that this year's H1B visa approval rate and visa rejection rate have been relatively well optimized.

According to the data released by Forbes, compared with last year, the rejection rate this year has dropped from 28.6% to 7.1% .

A large amount of data shows that the H1B visa pass rate of well-known enterprises is higher, and the pass rate of large companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and FB is very high.

Nine of the ten companies with the largest number of H1B visas this year are technology companies. They have been actively applying for H1B for their employees, and the average salary is not low. It can be said that they have put a lot of mental and financial resources.

The main reason for this phenomenon is job vacancies, allowing these companies to spend a lot of money to attract high-tech technical talents.

Q: OPT is about to expire, but I don’t know the result of the H1B lottery. Can I stay in the United States? Can it work?

You can stay in the United States and wait for the H1B lottery result until the lottery result is received. The OPT can work normally within 60 days (Grace Period) after it expires. If the lottery result has not been received for more than 60 days, you need to stop working and continue to wait for the result (a small probability event, generally the result has been received).

Q: What should I do if H1B has been unable to draw?

Some large companies have related policies that can send their employees to overseas offices and work in L1 status after a year. This is also one of the advantages of large companies.

Q: What should I do if I lose my job during H1B?

After the H1B status is unemployed, there is still a 60-day Grace Period to legally stay in the U.S. Plan the next step. If you find a new employer for H1B transfer, you can continue to work normally if you get the receipt. If you don’t find a new employer, you must leave the country or switch to another status. .

Generally speaking, for international students, there is no longer any need to worry about being affected by salary and not getting a visa. When applying for a job, they can have less worry and have more choices.