More H-1B visa applications for workers with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities were selected in the main lottery for the visa this year compared to last year, federal authorities said Tuesday.
The agency, following President Donald Trumps Buy American and Hire American executive order, tweaked this years lottery for 65,000 H-1B visas, saying the change would favor holders of a U.S. masters degree or higher. An additional 20,000 visas for such applicants are issued under a related process in the lottery, for a total of 85,000 new H-1Bs per year.
Preliminary data show that the share of advanced-degree holder applications selected in the 65,000-visa lottery this year amounted to 63 percent, up from 56 percent last year.
This years lottery, which ran at the start of April, drew about 201,000 applications from employers for 85,000 new H-1B visas for fiscal year 2020. Slightly more than half the applications were for candidates with a masters degree or higher from a U.S. school, Citizenship and Immigration.
The agency is laser-focused on carrying out Trumps executive order to ensure H-1B visas are awarded through a more meritorious selection process, spokeswoman Jessica Collins said.
The visa is heavily relied upon by major Silicon Valley technology firms who argue for increased H-1B visas they say they need to secure the worlds top talent. But while bearers of a U.S. masters degree or higher now have a better shot at being selected in the H-1B lottery, theres no guarantee theyll get a visa, and federal authorities have narrowed their interpretation of which degree types qualify a visa candidate for particular jobs, said Fremont immigration lawyer Barbara Wong. In the past, for example, electrical engineering, math and physics degrees were deemed suitable for software-engineering jobs, but thats no longer the case, Wong said.
The governments becoming much more restrictive without actually passing any laws in Congress, Wong said.
Ive had a lot of people ask if they can go to Canada.
Maybe the next Silicon Valley is going to be in Canada.
John Miano, a lawyer at the Center for Immigration Studies, which pushes for reduced immigration, called the lotterys increased share of advanced-degree holders really not all that significant.
From the perspective of American workers, this change means absolutely nothing, Miano said. They still can be replaced by foreign workers who can legally be paid at the bottom one-sixth of U.S. wages.
