Doing everything to improve H-1B visa process: White House

The early registration period for the FY2025 H-1B cap opens March 6 at noon Eastern

Washington:

The White House has said that US President Joe Biden is doing everything possible to reform the H-1B visa process, ‘green card’ backlog and other issues related to the country’s legal immigration system.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to hire foreign workers in specialized occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

The White House press secretary said, “One of the steps, if we look at the H-1B visa process, we have taken is to reform that and improve the process and the backlog for lawful permanent residents (green cards), Who are eligible to become American citizens.” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily press conference on Wednesday. She was answering questions about the feeling among a section of Indian Americans that the President is not doing as much to address the problems of legal immigrants as he is doing for illegal immigrants.

Biden will visit the southern border with Mexico in Texas on Thursday.

Jean-Pierre said, “For example, just last month, as part of our efforts to strengthen the integrity of our immigration system and reduce the potential for fraud, DHS issued a final order related to H-1B visas. The rules were published.”

“Therefore, the changes promote fairer and more equitable outcomes and so, we will continue our work to improve the system within our authorities and this has certainly been a priority,” he said and added that The administration takes this “very seriously” and is doing everything possible to improve the visa process.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the launch of myUSCIS organizational accounts that allow multiple people within an organization, as well as their legal representatives, to collaborate on H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions, and any associated and Will allow preparation. Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

USCIS said a new organizational account is required to participate in the H-1B electronic registration process starting in March 2024. It added, “We are working expeditiously to address any technical issues that may arise for legal representatives who have their accounts migrated when they log in to their online account on or after February 14, 2024.” “, including impact on matters other than H-1B filing.”

The early registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap will open on March 6 at noon Eastern and run through March 22 at noon Eastern.

During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, if applicable, must use a USCIS online account to electronically register each beneficiary for the selection process and pay the corresponding registration fee for each beneficiary, It is stated in its media alert. Beginning in the initial registration period for FY 2025, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary.

The passport or travel document provided must be the same that the beneficiary, if abroad, intends to use to enter the US when the H-1B visa is issued. Each beneficiary should be registered under only one passport or travel document.

“In March, we will begin online filing of Form I-129 and related Form I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions. On April 1, USCIS will accept online filing for H-1B cap petitions and related Form I- 907 for those petitioners whose registration is selected,” the federal agency said.

To help guide organizations and legal representatives through the new process, USCIS launched Tech Talk sessions in February 2024. During these sessions, individuals can ask questions about organizational accounts and online filing of Form I-129 for H-1B petitions.

USCIS encourages all individuals involved in the H-1B registration and petition filing process to attend these sessions. It added that additional information and dates are available on the upcoming national engagement page.

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