Experts from across the world feel the lottery system that is followed for H1B visas is going to be at its worst for visa seekers in 2023. Though the cap is 85,000 visas, the experts feel the registrations can go up to 500,000 this year.
There are about five primary reasons that have been lined up by experts –
1) Electronic registration – this is likely to put pressure on employers as it is considered rather impractical. Also, now, there is no barrier to entry which has severely increased the number of registrations. For example, in 2022, the registrations stood at 43K.
2) At present the US has 223,000 job vacancies which means there are 1.7 jobs for every person. Since the US is a strong economy, the easiest way to get entry is by getting a consulting company to sponsor you. This has further led to a spike.
3) There are students on F1 visas who have been laid off by mega tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter and they have to compete with ‘regular’ ones and this means more competition and more risk of being eliminated, even after being chosen.
4) Then there are last year’s lottery losers and they will be applying again.
5) Then, for non-Indian China graduates, the companies would be willing to sponsor them through PERM.
Additionally, the H1B filing fee has been hiked recently from $460 to $780. But it makes no difference to the aspirants because such is the demand and craze for the US work H1B visa.
While it is a good way to work around the H1B Visa cap, the process is slow. So if these candidates are trying for a green card, then they will add to the pressure.
