Two reports indicate that the U.S. government plans to make three changes to make the program even easier for industry:
- Postpone any raise in wages;
- Postpone any fee increases; and
- Make it possible for H-1B workers extending their visas to do so in the U.S. rather than in India, China, and other home countries.
The planned changes were reported in the SHRM website and the Tribune newspaper. According to the Tribune:
“[T]he United States Department of State is going to launch a pilot to adjudicate domestic renewals of certain petition-based temporary work visas later this year, including for Indian nationals with the intent to implement this for an expanded pool of H-1 and L visa holders," a senior Biden administration official said.
The programme would be eventually broadened to include other eligible categories. “It is good for people in India, good for people in the United States, really good for our businesses,” said the official.
The likelihood is that, should this change take place, the Department of Homeland Security would operate it within the U.S., not the State Department. L-1 visa holders are employees of international firms who are transferred to American jobs, a maneuver that allows the aliens to work in the U.S. without the complications and limitations of the H-1B lottery.
Making the H-1B and L-1 programs easier to handle, and cheaper, simply expands the number of American tech workers who lose good jobs because of them.