IMMIGRATION PREDICTIONS FOR 2016
- There will undoubtedly be an H-1b Lottery in April 2016, for fiscal year 2017. Although President Obama recently signed a bill to increase fees by 50% for companies with at least 50 employees consisting of 50% or more working under L-1 or H1B status, this is not predicted to cause a decline in the number of H1B candidates since the vast majority of H-1b employers do not fall under this category. The rapidly expanding IT industry in the US continues to increase demand on companies to hire H1B employees. There are an increasing number of graduates in mathematical, scientific and engineering fields (STEM fields) from countries such as India and China who require H-1b petitions in order to stay and work in the U.S. There are also a growing number of international students obtaining graduate degrees and wishing to work in the U.S. All of these reasons combine to make FY2017 another year in which many people will be turned away from a job because of the H-1b quota.
- Continued scrutiny of both the H-1b and L-1 programs evidenced by increased site visits to employers.
- Increasing issues for Visa Waiver Program Countries as a result of the San Bernadino terrorist acts. This will result in many people having to visit U.S. embassies for visas and increase the workload and wait times at U.S. Embassies around the world.
2016 will indeed be an interesting year in immigration since it is an election year and because of the likes of Donald Trump, immigration has become the major issue in the election campaign. Stay tuned.. It could get exciting.. but unfortunately, continued negative proposed legislation is expected.