Department of State Officially Rescinds Trump Era H-1B Regulation

On May 19, 2021, the Department of State officially rescinded a Trump era H-1B regulation that would have tightened the criteria for the H-1B program.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations. This visa category requires that the beneficiary (the foreign worker) have a bachelor’s degree, and the petitioner (the U.S. company) can employ the worker for up to six years.  This is a very popular visa because, unlike many other non-immigrant visas that make applying for a green card very difficult and require foreign workers to maintain a residence in their home country, the H-1B visa permits “dual intent.”  Dual intent allows one to apply for a green card while in the U.S. without running into problems. For more information on the H-1B Visa, please click here.

The regulation, originally introduced on October 8, 2020, tightened the definition of a specialty occupation, updated rules about third party worksites, and increase the likelihood of site visits from immigration officials. If your employer wants to sponsor you for an H-1B visa, the job position must be a specialty occupation, meaning, that it requires a theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and attainment of a bachelor’s or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the U.S. For more information about specialty occupation, please click here. For more information about how the Trump administration changed the definition of specialty occupation, please click here.

For more information about the changes that were in the regulations, please click here. The regulation never took effect due to a federal court ruling, and as of May 19, 2021, it has been official removed from the Code of Federal Regulations.