Hey everyone welcome back to today in tech I'm Juliet Beauchamp and I am here
with CIO senior writer Sharon Florentine today we're talking h-1b visas and we're
going to dive into the new program so stick around so Thank You Sharon so much
for calling in really appreciate it I know we've got a little bit of a
different set up here today Hey sure no problem thank you for having me
and I'm sure everyone out there is dealing with their own different setups
lately so certainly so we have been talking about h-1b visas pretty much
periodically over the course of almost I would say the last year or so and we're
sort of nearing the next round for the next year of h-1b visas but the process
was a little different this year to apply could you tell us a little bit
about that sure thing so back in December
USCIS finished pilot testing their new online portal that streamlined the
process significantly so starting on March 1st of 2020 just a few weeks ago
they opened the online portal companies could go in and fill out a very
compressed version of the visa application and that portal was open
from March 1st to March 20th they closed it down and from the pool of applicants
that they got during that time they will now select the petitions to hopefully
fill the cap right and this was intended to sort of be a little bit easier more
streamlined and interestingly this is a point that Shirin and I were discussing
yesterday when we were preparing is that this is there was a potential for this
to invite a lot more applicants just because of the nature of it being
cheaper it being easier we won't know for sure but could you tell us a little
bit about what you've been hearing from attorneys about how this process could
potentially change the cashier number yeah door so
previously when you as an employer or an attorney for an employer or for the
person who's trying to get the visa would apply the cost would be upwards of
twenty four hundred dollars with the introduction of this portal when you go
in and fill out and then submit your application it's a $10 fee for each
petitioner so yeah some of the attorneys and immigration specialists that I spoke
to said the potential for this to increase the number of applicants was
just huge each employer can submit up to 250 applications but again we won't know
how many people have taken advantage of that quote-unquote discounted rate and
the the ease of use until probably another week or two just for comparison
though in 2018 there were a hundred and ninety-nine thousand applications for
the 85,000 slots so expecting that number to jump significantly and this is
interesting too because it's a bit different of a deadline because it seems
like before it would be a huge huge benefit to get your application and
first thing as soon as they opened on April 1st right mm-hmm
sorry get your application in pretty much as soon as April 1st and oftentimes
the pool would be almost full right within a few days or perhaps not full
but the applic all of the visas would have been given out over the course okay
yeah so yeah now it's more of a rolling process you have from just about three
weeks exactly the process is much simpler it's pretty basic information
about the company and about the person that
you want just sponsor it really can be done in just a few minutes and submitted
whereas you're correct before it you had to submit the entire application with
all the documentation and then there was the chance that you know USCIS would
come back to you and do what's called an RF II a request for evidence if you
didn't complete the application or they needed more information somehow so yeah
definitely a much easier process so this year the process was a lot different
because they had this three ish week period to submit their applications and
it wasn't the extensive applications that perhaps applicants or lawyers or
companies were used to in the past it's much simpler and it doesn't seem like
there's any real benefit to get it in early as long as you get it in within
that March 1st to March 20th the time period so I would maybe think that this
is more of perhaps an equal playing field as long as you get it in on time
it doesn't matter when you get it in right you you definitely have that
rolling application period for those 3 weeks now the the process is supposed to
be a random lottery so technically I don't know that it makes a difference if
you hit that you know in in previous years if you hit that April 1st deadline
you know at 12:01 a.m. but I know a lot of companies and attorneys and
petitioners would try and get in as early as possible so that if they made
an RFP which is a request for evidence if you needed to provide more
information or you didn't fill out the application correctly or whatever there
would be ample time to to fill in those gaps right and a request for
doesn't necessarily mean the your applications going to be denied right
yeah it could just mean that you didn't fill out a section completely or they
needed more documentation or something along those lines but now of course as
opposed to years past you too are submitting your basic information and
then if you get selected from that March 1st to March 20th pool that's when you
submit the much longer application and is that when you pay the cost and is
that when you would perhaps get an immigration lawyer involved USCIS will
inform those who were selected by March 31st and then once they notify folks
whether or not they're selected they have 90 days to complete the full
application and then submit that or the visa right and here's my question is
that when are there Stelling applicants that they're selected is are they going
to be telling 85,000 people out there selected so it's the 65,000 with
bachelor's degree and 20,000 with masters and then okay yes and then from
there what happens if perhaps someone has submits an application but then is
not granted a visa if they perhaps they need more evidence what is the
likelihood I guess have not been granted a visa after getting selected from this
new pool I would assume that if they've gone through that whole process and DHS
and USCIS has reviewed all their paperwork in their documentation and
then they're selected then they would in fact be granted a visa got it
so I guess again don't quote me on that cuz I'm not entirely sure but I can get
back to you sigh clarify so then I guess where that leaves us is with sort of the
million dollar question obviously amid coronavirus concerns a lot of people
have been working from home a lot of offices have been closed so what is your
insight if any as to how the corona virus is
going to affect visas and h-1b visa specifically that's a great question and
everyone's grappling with that there's no clear answer at this point
USCIS last Friday suspended all routine visa services that means you can't renew
a visa you can't get a new visa there's no in-person visa services right
now they've closed all their offices because of social distancing and
companies aren't sure what's happening visa holders and visa applicants aren't
sure what's happening nobody really knows got it so much like it seems the
recipe that's a little theory got it so much like it seems that the rest of this
sort of h-1b visa processes this is something that is going to probably
unfold in the coming weeks of course applicants are going to be notified I
mean just in about a week whether or not they were selected correct yeah
everybody's gonna have to hang tight and be flexible so more of the same
great well thank you so much Sharon I really appreciate it this update about
h-1b visas especially in the time of a lot of being closed and shut down so
thank you so much for calling in and if there's any updates I think we could
even probably touch base in a few weeks if anything else changes sounds great
I'll be here practicing my social distancing great thank you so much
Sharon and thank you all for watching this episode of today and tech if you
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and if you have any questions about h-1b visas please please leave a comment
below I'll get back to you or I'll get back to you on Sharon's behalf thanks
again for watching and we'll see you next time