The House of Judiciary Committee is also looking at a hike in the prevailing wage limit due to RFE H-1B Process workload.
As we know during the past two years, several changes have been imposed in various visa segments, including H-1B visas, and with the introduction of an executive order to “Buy American and Hire American,” extra scrutiny has been imposed for new and existing H-1B processes. For example, since the election in 2016, there has been a huge increase in the number of petitions facing Request for Further Evidence (RFE) – we estimate more than 75% of applications now require more information than in previous years.
These additional restrictions have done to taper the number of H-1B CAP petitions on an average of 200,000 petitions annually. Despite having labeled restrictions on the CAP number, petitions are overflowing to the US Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS). Although it is forecasted that a new system of pre-registration introduced by the USCIS but the challenges will remain for attorneys.
Maintaining H-1B Draft Quality
H-1B petition is a complex process with multiple parameters that must be met to get approval from USCIS but the sheer volume of petitions they need to file is challenging to maintain the quality of each draft even though the draft is crucial to achieving quick, efficient approvals.
DOL demonstrate that the candidate should have the right skills, to ensuring wages comply with Regulations, and ensuring the correct resource is defined within the petition and it is always crucial to understand several factors while drafting a petition hence founded RFEs flooding back.
Drafting therefore takes time, each requires multiple engagements with the clients, and that’s not even considering an immigration attorney’s core competent work on top of that. And, because H-1B CAP is seasonal and volume based, it is challenging to scale-up in short notice or on a temporary basis – the skills required are too hefty to train quickly and would be entirely cost prohibitive. All of which, means immigration attorneys are frenetically trying to keep their processes together, their applications on track and of course, their corporate stakeholders happy.
Given the changes that have occurred in just the past two years, it’s never too early for immigration attorneys to start thinking about the next two years and what might occur after November 3rd, 2020. Regardless of whether we see a new man or woman at the helm, there are bound to be additional changes and legal alterations around immigration that mean an increased workload, more forms to be filled and information to be filed.
