By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Jan 24: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced changes in the H1-B visa application process for tech talents who want to work in the US.

The agency that issues H-1B visas will move to a new system in April, a press release by PassRight, a network supporting talented professionals in their relocation to the US, said.

According to the USCIS, employers will now need to register in advance the names of employees who need work permits. The agency will then select those of the registered candidates who it views as eligible to apply for the H1-B visa. This will lengthen the whole visa process as the H1-B visa season will now begin in March and end in June/July, unlike in previous years when the season began in March and ran till the second week of April.

Despite the tightening of the H1-B visa regulations, the USCIS points out that the O-1 Visa option still remains uncapped for talent wishing to work with US tech companies.

According to Liran Jakob Rosenfeld, the founder and CEO at PassRight, a network supporting talented professionals in their relocation to the US, the O-1 visa is the best choice for tech experts as O-1 visa talent are recognised as people with extraordinary skills in their field of work. In fact, despite the harsh US immigration policies, 98 percent of O-1 visa applicants who applied through PassRight received their visas in 2019.

Data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics project that 1.4 million positions will be open in computing in the near future.