United States | Final H-1B regulation under White House review

The Department of Homeland Security has submitted the final H-1B regulation to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.

Key Points:

• The text of the rule is not yet available, but OMB review is the final step in the regulatory process before publication.
• In October 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a 227-page proposed H-1B modernization rule which drew more than 1,300 comments in a comment period that ended Dec. 22, 2023.
• USCIS said the proposed rule was crafted to (1) modernize H-1B requirements and improve efficiency, (2) provide greater benefits and flexibilities for petitioners and beneficiaries and (3) improve integrity measures.

Background: Part of the proposed rule, which changed the H-1B selection process so that each H-1B beneficiary is selected only once regardless of how many registrations are submitted on the beneficiary’s behalf, was published in January 2024 and took effect for the FY 2025 H-1B registration lottery.