US may hike wage levels for H-1B visas, link lottery to pay

A document released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services clarifies key points of the contentious revamped visa policy

- Shashank Mattoo

The US government is considering further changes to the H-1B visa programme, including plans to raise wage eligibility levels for foreign workers and to prioritise highly paid professionals in the visa lottery, after introducing a $100,000 fee for new petitions from September 21.

These proposed reforms, which were floated in an advisory by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), are expected to further restrict high-skilled immigration to the United States. Indian professionals, who account for over 70% of approved H-1B visa petitions, will be disproportionately affected by the changes.

These changes will also increase pressure on Indian IT services companies that derive a large share of their revenue from the US and depend on the H-1B programme to deploy engineers with overseas clients.

"If these changes go through, then the education pathway to studying in the US and then working here will collapse because this will disadvantage entry level workers who do not earn as much," explains Debarghya Das, aventure capitalist based in Silicon Valley.