I've gone through the 185 page new H-1B rule changing the H-1B lottery to one that's wage based (though still a lottery of sorts). 1
The rule is final but doesn’t go into effect for 60 days. That means it will not impact the next H-1B lottery since the entry period will start before that date. 2
The new rule allows for ranking and selection based on OES wage levels (you can see the data at flcdatacenter.com). 3
The rule text itself isn't that long and here are the main changes:

1.USCIS will look at the highest OES wage level that the offered wage exceeds for the relevant occupation code and in the area of intended employment. 4
2.USCIS will 1st look to wage level IV and then go down through level I and below. Private wage surveys will be considered equivalent to Level I and below. 5
3.If there are more registrations at a particular wage than the projected number needed to meet the applicable numerical allocation, USCIS will randomly select registrations within that wage level needed to meet the numerical allocation. 6
4.If the H-1B worker will work in multiple locations, USCIS will rank based on the lowest correspondence OES wage level that the offered wage will equal or exceed. 7
5. When there is no current OES wage info for the position, USCIS will rank based on the OES wage level that corresponds to the requirements for the position. 8
6. USCIS may deny or revoke approval of a subsequent new or amended petition filed by the petition, or a related entity, on behalf of the same beneficiary, if USCIS determines the new filing is an attempt to unfairly decreased the wage to a lower level. 9
Now for some background and comments.

DHS notes that on average, Level II is by far the most common. More than half of all petitions use that wage level.

10
274K registrations were submitted in last March’s H-1B lottery. 106K registrations were initially selected. In the 8/20 second drawing, another 18,315 registrations were selected. 11
DHS analyzed how the new rule will play out for the regular cap based on the last 2 year’s prior filings. Level III and Level IV would have gotten 100% of those submitted. 75% to Level II. 0% to Level I & Below. 12
For the advanced degree cap, 100% of Level III and IV. 20% of Level II would be. 0% of Level I and Below. 13
DHS is hoping that the rule incentivizes employers to pay at the higher levels to improve their odds. 14
The review of the comments is familiar. It’s essentially a rehashing of responses the govt provided in the various lawsuits on earlier H-1B rules. An interesting example regards DHS Sec Chad Wolf’s illegal appointment. The Vacancies Act violation will likely mean a court loss 15
A lot of discussion is made regarding the impact on physician immigration. DHS’ responses show a complete lack of understanding of the issue and a failure to research the issue. For example, they say some US medical grads aren’t getting residency slots. 16
Yes, some med school grads have not been offered residency slots and aren’t matching. But it's a very small fraction of US grads and likely the least qualified. But more than ¼ of MDs are international and jeopardizing the overall physician supply for a couple hundred doctors. 17
Congress can take care of this group by expanding residency slots or taking responsibility for paying back their student loans. This rule is not going to solve this problem for them, however. 18
Another outrageous statement from DHS in the rule. US university grads aren’t going to be hurt because they have 3 years of STEM OPT to get the experience needed to get their wages up. But DHS has been trying to kill STEM OPT. And non-STEM grads only get 1 year of OPT. 19
Also, universities complained that recruiting intl students – worth billions of $ & vital to keeping departments at many schools open – will be harder if it’s harder for them to find jobs upon graduation. DHS said schools are strong enough to attract students anyway. 20
DHS pushed back on comments that Congress has to make these changes. However, Congress has been considering legislation for several years that would re-prioritize how H-1Bs are allocated (e.g. I-Squared). They haven’t voted for any. 21
DHS rejected all comments seeking changes from the proposed rule. “DHS does not agree” is how every negative comment is answered. 22
DHS bypassed normal requirement that 60 days be provided for commenting. They indicated the 30 days given is adequate because this is a narrow rule (though it’s 184 pages…). 23
As was the case with the DOL rule and the H-1B specialty occupation rule, DHS skipped the required review with OMB. This could also make the rule vulnerable in litigation. 24
There are winners & losers with this rule. MDs are a loser. They have a one wage level & most MD jobs only require a degree and license. The positions are usually Level I or II so MDs will largely shut out if they're going through the lottery. 25

More to follow in a 2nd thread.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Greg Siskind

Greg Siskind Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @gsiskind

6 Jan
One small thing I would like to see done very soon. Take the immigration sections of the Heroes Act (Covid relief) passed in May and separately pass that bill since McConnell stripped out that part. Here's my summary - visalaw.com/siskind-summar…
And add the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act. There is plenty more to do but those bills are specifically Covid-related and need immediate passage.
The HWRA is jointly sponsored by Senators Perdue and Durbin. It has 40ish co-sponsors almost equally divided between Ds and Rs. It provides green cards for 40K doctors and nurses and it won't be filibustered.
Read 4 tweets
16 Dec 20
As predicted, the China provision is the main sticking point preventing possible inclusion of 1044/386 per country caps language in the omnibus bill. Several dozen advocacy organizations, including a number of Asian American groups, have come out opposing that language. 1
They are not taking a position on country caps - just the offensive paragraph. I know some groups supporting 1044 are trying to say the anti-Chinese language is symbolic & won't change things. Unfortunately, that's not true. 2
Fixing the language isn't that hard. But I understand Senator Scott is being obstinate and refusing modifications. 3
Read 8 tweets
2 Dec 20
Happy that S. 386 has finally passed in the Senate and we're a step closer to ending nationality discrimination in the visa allocation system. 1
However, there are significant differences with the House version that need to be negotiated (including a China provision that is going to be viewed as controversial unless clarified). 2
President-elect Biden also needs to use executive actions to address the backlogs and has options available to him that will ensure there are NO backlogs for anyone with or without country caps. 3
Read 8 tweets
29 Oct 20
Everyone who cares about immigration law and policy needs to read @crampell's superb piece. - Trump didn’t build his border wall with steel. He built it out of paper. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
It is not an easy read. But it does the job of laying out just how broad the problems created by Trump are. In order to really fix things, it's necessary to thoroughly understand what has happened. If Team Biden wins, they have a hell of a lot of work to do.
The immigration advocacy community has got to fight just as hard to get a new Administration to comprehensively address the problems. Some of that will be to address the hundreds of changes at the agencies and work on building a pro-immigration culture at the various agencies.
Read 12 tweets
27 Oct 20
About to listen to arguments in the 4th Circuit in HIAS v. Trump, an appeal by DOJ of a court order preventing the implementation of Trump's executive order forbidding refugee resettlement unless states and localities have both opted in to the refugee resettlement program.
I wonder if the DOJ lawyers on all these horrible anti-refugee cases really are ok with the evil impact of the stuff they're defending or they are just treating it as doing their job?
A judge is pointing out that the order has an absurd unworkable construct. That doesn't sound good for the government.
Read 12 tweets
10 Oct 20
I learned today about a disturbing side effect of the new DOL H-1B wage rules. And it could have a dramatic effect on the American health care system I hadn't previously considered. 1
Because physician salaries are now so elevated under the new rule, DOL has shifted to a national default wage for all H-1B doctors and those seeking green cards - $208,000 per year. All specialties. All geographic areas. Doesn't matter if you're right out of med school or not. 2
This plays out in some crazy ways. Medical residents for example. In teaching hospitals across the country, residents are typically paid $50K to $70K per year. The new reg requires they be paid $208K. 3
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!