Upto 40% Of Successful H1B Indian Applicants May Not File H1B Petition Due To Slowdown In US, India

The coronavirus pandemic has given rise to massive layoffs resulting in unemployment. Amidst the poor world economy, the US economy is no better.

Economic experts fear massive layoffs in various sectors of the American economy due to the current economic distress that is only going to deteriorate in coming weeks and months.

This shall hurt the dreams of various IT professionals in India, as companies may not file their H-1B visa petitions despite their selection by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Companies Won’t File H-1B Visa Petition

The USCIS has completed its selection of H-1B candidates for FY2021. It has received 275,000 unique online registrations, 67.7% of which were for Indian nationals. 

Indian IT companies indicate that about 30% of their online registrations have been selected. Companies can file H-1B petitions for these selected candidates within 90 days from April 1, 2020. 

But companies may not now need the entire number of candidates selected due to the slowdown in the US and several contracts being cancelled, as a result of the Covid-19 situation.

Certain companies have indicated that they may not file petitions for about 40% of their selected candidates in view of the reduced demand for H-1B workers.

Poorvi Chothani, managing partner of LawQuest, an immigration law firm headquartered in Mumbai, warns that companies should prepare to file H-1B petitions for all their selected candidates as failure to do so could result in penalties and sanctions.

So far, the US government has neither announced any extension of the filing deadline nor any relief measures in case companies wish to change their H-1B requirements in view of the Covid-19 situation.

As per a statement by the USCIS, the H-1B electronic registration process was well-received by users, who provided a high satisfaction score with the system.

Most H-1B Visa Registrations by India, FY2021

The USCIS reported that near about 68% of the H1-B registrations for FY21 were from India.

Nearly 2,75,000 unique registrations were submitted during the initial registration period. Nearly 81% After India, China is the second largest beneficiary at 13.2%.

Of the total applications, roughly 46% of all registrations were for prospective beneficiaries with US advanced degrees.

The USCIS had earlier announced that the H1-B quota (65,000) for FY21 was over. Along with this, USCIS also issues another 20,000 H-1B visas for those who have earned Masters and higher degrees from a US institution.