National

Bar on multiple H-1B applications

Washington: The U.S. has barred employers from filing more than one H-1B visa application for a worker in a fiscal year.

“To ensure a fair and orderly distribution of available H-1B visas, USCIS will deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker and will not refund the filing fees submitted with multiple or duplicative petitions,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

The Congress has set a limit of 65,000 for H-1B workers for fiscal 2009.

The changes will ensure that companies filing H-1B petitions subject to Congressionally mandated numerical limits have an equal chance to employ an H-1B worker, it said.

This rule does not preclude related employers (such as a parent company and its subsidiary) from filing petitions on behalf of the same worker for different positions, based on a legitimate business need.

There has been growing pressure from U.S. companies to raise the H-1B visa quota with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates describing the cap as “arbitrary and counterproductive.”

The USCIS said the changes to the H-1B filing process under the new rule are an important part of the initiative announced by President George Bush in August on undertaking a series of immigration and border security reforms.

According to the agency, from April 1 employers can file petitions requesting H-1B workers for fiscal 2009 employment.

The first 20,000 H-1B applicants who have a U.S. Master’s degree or higher qualification are exempted from the current cap. Once USCIS receives 20,000 petitions from such foreigners, all other cases requesting the educational exemption are counted toward the 65,000 cap. Once the 65,000 cap is reached for a fiscal year, USCIS will reject further petitions. — PTI

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