Class Action Settlement Gives Second Chance to Qualifying US Employers for H-1B Petition Approval

 

By: Leslie Dellon www.immigrationimpact.com/

A recent class action settlement is expected to result in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approving more market research analyst H-1B petitions.

The lawsuit was filed by four U.S. employers whose H-1B petitions had been denied when USCIS determined that market research analysts were not a “specialty occupation” as required for an H-1B visa classification. Jobs in the H-1B category require a worker to possess highly specialized knowledge acquired through a bachelor’s or higher degree in a “specific specialty” or equivalent at the entry level. USCIS based its determination on a flawed interpretation of the market research analyst entry in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a Department of Labor publication that includes information about how to enter an occupation.

The plaintiffs requested relief for themselves and other U.S. employers like them whose petitions USCIS would have approved if the agency had not made this decision about the OOH market research analyst entry.

More information https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5283-Class-Action-Settlement-Gives-Second-Chance-to-Qualifying-US-Employers.html

Your COVID-19 Vaccine Was Likely Made by an Immigrant

 By: Walter Ewing, www.immigrationimpact.com/

The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is a global endeavor. The scientists and entrepreneurs creating the vaccine are of many nationalities and immigration statuses—as are the millions of people impacted by the pandemic who are anxiously awaiting a vaccine.

The three pharmaceutical companies with vaccines near-ready for distribution—BioNTech, Pfizer, and Moderna—were all founded by immigrants.

Consider the partnership between the German company BioNTech SE and the American company Pfizer Inc., which has now completed a working vaccine.

BioNTech was founded by a husband-wife team of Turkish origin—Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci—one of whom was brought to Germany from Turkey as a child, while the other was born in Germany to a Turkish father.

More information https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5015-COVID-19-Vaccine-Was-Likely-Made-by-an-Immigrant.html

USCIS Denial Rates For H-1B Petitions Have Quadrupled

By Walter Ewing www.immigrationimpact.com//

The Trump administration, acting through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is disrupting the process by which U.S. employers obtain work authorization for highly skilled foreign professionals.

According to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy, these changes are affecting how often H-1B petitions are denied and the length of time it takes to adjudicate them. The administration is doing this absent any changes in the law by Congress and is circumventing the federal rulemaking process. The report finds that, between Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and the first three quarters of FY 2019, denial rates for H-1B petitions for “initial” employment for new employees have quadrupled from 6% to 24%. Denial rates for H-1B petitions for “continuing” employment (mostly for existing employees) also quadrupled from 3% to 12% over the same period.

There was a slight increase in the number of petitions approved in the third quarter of 2019. But the report explains this as a matter of timing—it’s likely that adjudicators at USCIS were approving the least difficult H-1B cases first among those selected in the April 2019 lottery. The increase, therefore, was not the result of any change in the Trump administration’s policies.

USCIS is also issuing Requests for Evidence (RFEs) for a much greater share of “completed” cases than in the past. The purpose of an RFE is to ask for additional evidence of eligibility.

In the first quarter of FY 2019, for instance, RFEs were issued for 60% of completed cases, compared to the historical average of 20%. RFEs delay the adjudication of cases and impose up to $4,500 in extra legal expenses on employers.

Most employers will not invest the time and money in an H-1B petition unless they are reasonably certain that the intended employee will qualify. This makes it even more suspect that the government is denying nearly one-quarter of all H-1B petitions and issuing RFEs in such a large number of cases.

What the Trump administration is trying to do—through agency memoranda and other policy changes—is increase the difficulty of success for any H-1B petition.

The report also points to other research which demonstrates that restrictive H-1B policies don’t automatically free up jobs for native-born workers.

Rather, such policies motivate companies to relocate operations abroad to locales where it is easier to gain access to high-skilled workers. This translates into a net loss of employment, business, and innovative capacity within the United States.

Under the Trump administration, USCIS is undermining the U.S. economy by foreclosing the employment of many qualified workers upon whom U.S. industries depend. In the final analysis, this only serves to shrink the job market for all high-skilled workers, both native-born and foreign-born.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com/ 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4607-USCIS-Denial-Rates-For-H-1B-Petitions.html

US Visa Policies Prevent Tech Startups From Hiring Foreign Workers

By Walter Ewing www.immigrationimpact.com

Tech startups are engines of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Yet U.S. visa policies may be preventing startups from hiring the highly skilled foreign professionals they need to succeed.

A new study looks at foreign and U.S.-born workers who recently graduated from American universities. Researchers specifically wanted to see where foreign workers with a PhD in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) got their first jobs after graduating.

Foreign workers are just as likely to apply for and receive job offers from startups as U.S. citizens, the study found. Yet foreign workers are 56% less likely to work for a tech startup once they’ve completed their degree.

This disparity is significant. Roughly half of all doctorate holders in computer science and engineering are strong>foreign-born—meaning that startups are missing out on a large share of the high-skilled workforce.

Cutting out a significant piece of tech startups’ potential labor force hurts the companies (which may struggle to stay afloat with a reduced pool of candidates). But it also means the United States is losing the innovation and job creation that these U.S.-educated foreign workers could bring.

Foreign workers also face difficulties because they may have to depart the United States if they cannot transition from post-graduate training as a student to H-1B status due to the annual limit exceeding the demand—even if a startup is willing to sponsor them for temporary employment. Even when sponsored for permanent employment, foreign nationals face lengthy waits for many employment-based categories, particularly if they were born in China or India.

Many startups are unable to effectively tap into this reservoir of talent because they do not have the resources to complete the laborious process of sponsoring potential foreign workers so they can apply for green cards.

To sponsor a worker, the report estimates that a startup would need to spend between $5,000 to $10,000 in filing and attorney fees complying with the requirements of federal agencies and wait months, if not years, to complete the various stages of the green card process. This is beyond the reach of many small startups that lack dedicated human resources departments.

This means foreign workers just entering the labor force have a better chance of getting a green card if they work for a larger, established company than for a small startup.

After they receive their green card, however, they have much more freedom of movement. The study finds that foreign-born PhDs who get their green cards while working at a larger company are more likely to move on to a startup than to another large company.

Foreign-born PhDs in this country know that startups are where the action is in the high-tech economy. But, in considering their futures, they also need to take into account which companies are best equipped to invest the time and money that is needed to help them secure green cards. Without green cards, they might be unable to work in the United States at all and be obligated to return to their home countries.

Unfortunately, this system leaves startups at a disadvantage—unable to hire a great many talented professionals just as they are graduating from U.S. universities with their STEM doctorates in hand.

Both startups and the U.S. economy would benefit from a green-card application process that is simpler and less expensive than the current process. For example, what if foreign nationals with a U.S. STEM PhD degree could apply for a green card after graduation without being subject to the annual numerical limitations? Doing so would foster innovation, growth, and job creation.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4483-US-Visa-Policies-Prevent-Tech-Hiring-Workers.html