Each year the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects up to 85,000 people through the tech visa lottery. The tech visa lottery is a computer-generated system that selects winners at random to obtain the highly coveted H-1B visa. Essentially, the H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers with specialized skills to fill positions that cannot otherwise be filled by U.S. citizens. Typically, only those with a graduate-level education can obtain this type of temporary nonimmigrant work visa. Tech companies rely heavily on the H-1B visa to hire foreign workers with advanced knowledge in the technology industry. Recently, USCIS has investigated how the number of applications for visas used in the technology industry soared for a second straight year. This has raised major concerns as USCIS suspects tech companies are manipulating the system to gain an unfair advantage. Keep reading to learn more about USCIS’s concerns regarding fraud in the system and discover how a trusted Essex County Employment Immigration Attorney can help you properly register for the tech visa lottery to obtain an H-1B visa.
What are USCIS’s fears regarding the tech visa lottery?
USCIS has recently made the public aware of its concerns regarding fraud within the tech visa lottery. In the past two years, the number of applications for the H-1B visa lottery has skyrocketed. The Biden Administration reportedly has discovered a loophole that confirms small tech companies are colluding to cheat the tech visa lottery. With this loophole, tech companies are entering foreign employees’ names numerous times to increase their likelihood of being selected to obtain an H-1B visa. Essentially, they are trying to give their prospective employees an unfair advantage as registering their name multiple times unfairly increases their chances of being randomly selected. According to research, USCIS found evidence that an estimated 96,000 employers had submitted multiple visa applications for foreign workers through the same tech companies which accounted for 408,000 entries. This means certain prospective employees have an unfair advantage in being selected for the H-1B visa lottery.
How can this affect foreign workers?
Foreign workers seeking H-1B visas through the computer-generated tech visa lottery system must understand how tech companies are unfairly manipulating the system as it will affect the lottery process in the future. To ensure no one receives an unfair advantage they plan on increasing the registration fee to $215. Currently, the registration fee only stands at $10. USCIS’s plans to increase the H-1B visa lottery registration fees are to regulate the process and deter fraudulent applications. USCIS wants to ensure everyone is given a fair chance of obtaining a temporary nonimmigrant work visa.
If you are registering for the tech visa lottery to obtain an H-1B visa, it is in your best interest to hire a determined Essex County employment immigration attorney. Our firm can help you remain eligible to file an H-1B visa application and follow the laws to prevent fraud within the system.
