The US H-1B visa for skilled workers has seen the highest approval rates in a decade, revealed information from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The approval rate for the visa category stood at 97.3 percent for the period between October 2020 and September 2021.
The high approval rate was secured despite the fact that the USCIS had to arrange for a second visa lottery in order to meet its quota of giving out 85,000 visas for the year. Travel restrictions and the continuing pandemic situation led to the situation. The agency received a total of 398,267 petitions for initial and continuing employment, reported the Economic Times.
The number of petitions reflects the need for talented tech personnel in the US, as the pandemic has accelerated business to change towards digitisation. This has resulted in a tight labour market in the tech talent space. But the increasing approval rate also highlights the changes in attitude towards immigration between the Joe Biden administration and the former Trump administration.
Visa approval rates under former President Donald Trump, who had built up a platform speaking out against immigration, had plummeted to 91.4 percent in FY20, 84.8 percent in FY19, 84.5 percent in FY18 and 92.6 percent in FY17.
The US government recently cancelled a rule that would have changed the way H-1B visas are granted, the USCIS said. The Trump-era rule sought to replace the current lottery system of granting H-1B visas with a wage-based system. In September, the US District Court for the Northern District of California had vacated the rule, following which the Department of Homeland Security withdrew the changes.
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(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)
First Published: Dec 23, 2021 3:36 PM IST
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