5 Things Foreign Workers Need To Know About The H-1B Visa Rules
The US might have the highest economy globally, but the most important element of the economy they lack are the workers. Every year, the US accepts thousands of foreign workers to fill their worker quota in science, technology, math, and engineering.
An H-1B visa fills in the petition for the foreign workers. USCIS controls this work allocation of the visa. With the low stationary number for the visa, the demand for the H-1B has spiked in recent years.
In this article, we will cover the information on e2 visa requirements and H-1B visa rules.
Things to know about the H-1B visa rules
According to the H-1B, foreign high skilled workers are not supposed to take jobs from the Americans, but they sometimes do. When companies apply for the H-1B to hire new migrant workers, the process is handled by the US labor department. However, there have been cases when American workers have claimed lawsuits against the company to work as peer H-1B protocols. It is important to understand the H-1B visa rules to restrict these kinds of things from happening.
Here are the things that you need to know about the H-1B visa rules.
Displacement
According to H-1B, companies are not authorized to replace American workers. Though it provides them protection, they cannot replace American workers with H-1B workers. According to the law, the companies who agree with the H-1B visa rules can hire foreign workers but cannot replace any existing worker.
More than 15 percent of American workers have an H-1B visa. That means they have the right to work for 90 days of the year. If a worker has not completed its working days, it cannot be replaced with any worker. If any company does so, they are liable to face judgment from the court.
Recruitment
According to the law, the companies in terms of the H-1B visa need to hire American workers before hiring H-1B workers. Though it is mandatory, it is hardly enforced. Without this knowledge, many people never come to know why they were shifted from their current position.
The companies use this lack of knowledge to hire migrant workers to reduce their monthly payments. The worst part is that some of the companies are not even categorized as H-1B dependent. Therefore they neglect the displacement and recruitment guidelines.
Prevailing wages
There are prevailing wages that are needed to be offered to the guest workers. No matter what the job is, guest workers have the right to ask for the prevailing wages. However, the job description is so vague that it gives employers a wiggle room to take advantage of.
The government has allied the companies to calculate their prevailing wages by going through government data and private industries surveys.
Oversight issues
The H-1B is practiced on a large scale. However, there are only half a dozen agencies that maintain the paperwork. This gives a leeway for the legal provision enforcement to slack off. Due to a lack of human resources, the laws are not enforced properly.
To counter this problem, the labor department computer does an initial check-up to see whether the employees have agreed to the commitment or not. Even after having a solution at the fingertips, hardly any human looks at the application.
Other visas
Companies willing to bring new foreign employees for their businesses have several options apart from the H-1B visas. They have L-1 and B-1 visas that are unlimited. The L-1 visa allows transferring foreign workers to the US without offering them US salaries. On the other hand, B-1 visas allow foreigners to attend seminars and meetings in the US.
There have been cases when B-1 visas have been used by the companies to get around the limit of H-1B visas.
Conclusion
It is very important to understand the visas’ features and know what right you are given. Without the right information, you may find yourself in a dire situation. We hope that we were able to highlight things that were never clear to you. If you think we were missing out on something, feel free to suggest down below, we will be happy to add your suggestions here.
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