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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services completes a second H-1B registration lottery. The U.S. limits Hungarian citizens’ access to the visa waiver program. And a look at J-1 visa opportunities for STEM researchers and specialists — and how they could help keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy.
Get this news and more in the new episode of BAL’s podcast, the BAL Immigration Report, available on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts or on the BAL news site.
This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group.
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It’s Aug. 3, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.
“We can have all the policies and ambitions in the world, but if we don’t actually have the people to be driving those innovations, we’re going to fall behind.”
—Jennifer Clinton, Cultural Vistas CEO
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services completed its second H-1B registration lottery for fiscal year 2024 earlier this week. The agency selected an additional 77,609 registrations in the lottery, bringing the total for this year to 188,400 selectees.
USCIS held the second lottery after determining that additional registrations were needed to reach fiscal year 2024’s numerical allocations. With the additional selections, the overall cap selection rate for this year rose to 24.8%, which is roughly on par with last year’s rate, even with this year’s surge in registrations. All selected prospective petitioners have been notified and will have at least 90 days to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
The U.S. government moved this week to limit Hungarian citizens’ access to the Visa Waiver Program due to security concerns over passports issued from 2011 to 2020. Authorities reduced the validity of Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, for Hungarian nationals from two years to one year, and each ESTA will be valid for only one entry to the U.S.
Officials cited ongoing concerns about the security of Hungarian passports, which were issued “without stringent identity verification mechanisms in place,” according to David Pressman, U.S. ambassador to Hungary, in an interview with Politico.
A conversation with Jennifer Clinton and Cyn Rowan of Cultural Vistas: J-1 visa options for STEM researchers and specialists.
BAL Immigration Report: In 2022, the Biden administration launched an Early Career STEM Research Initiative aimed at attracting international talent and boosting global competitiveness. We recently spoke with Jennifer Clinton and Cyn Rowan of Cultural Vistas, a nonprofit organization that facilitates internships and professional exchange programs. We started by asking Clinton, the organization’s CEO, about the STEM initiative.
Clinton: Back in early 2022, the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security announced a set of new actions that they were going to pursue to really advance more predictability and clarity for pathways for international STEM scholars, students, researchers and experts to contribute to the innovation and job creation efforts in the U.S. This came out of the current administration. It was really about recognizing the value that foreign-born individuals and immigrants bring to our economy, to our knowledge base, and also in recognition that over the last seven years, there has been a decline in the numbers of undergraduate and graduate students coming into the U.S. from abroad, and particularly in the STEM fields.
The U.S. has relied historically very much on foreign-born individuals that have STEM expertise to really help our economy, grow our economy, innovate within the U.S. So with that decline of people coming into the U.S. to start their education and careers that, from a long-term impact, the administration is recognizing that that can have severe consequences for the U.S. in terms of its own global competitiveness.
BAL: Both the Department of Homeland Security and State Department have taken action pursuant to the initiative. For example, DHS has added 22 fields of study to the STEM OPT program. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its guidance to clarify how STEM graduates and entrepreneurs can use national interest waivers. And the State Department has ramped up efforts to build awareness of how companies can utilize the J-1 nonimmigrant visa program to access STEM talent. Rowan, senior business development manager for the global talent development program at Cultural Vistas, discussed visa options for J-1 researchers and specialists.
Rowan: The general research and specialist category is meant for U.S. companies, especially the ones in STEM who are engaged in research and development work — so think about companies working within product design, product innovation, product development, engineering work. Those companies can use the J-1 research scholar to bring in those international experts that would research, observe and consult on those projects.
BAL: There are eligibility requirements, both for companies and job candidates. For example, a company bringing someone to the U.S. for research and development must have been incorporated for at least a year. It must have a physical office in the U.S. and the resources necessary to support the R&D program and must provide opportunities for knowledge exchange, among other requirements. The R&D candidate must have at least a bachelor’s degree and the skills and experience necessary for the project on which they will be working. Rowan said some J-1 categories remain underutilized — and provided some examples.
Rowan: The first one, and I guess the easiest one, is transferring from U.S. universities. So right now, there’s statistics out there where half of the doctorate students or holders in the STEM field are foreign born. So there’s a huge opportunity there for those that are already here on the J-1 research scholar visa with these universities to transfer to the U.S. private sector to work for these U.S. companies.
The way we work is, so a post-doc is here already on the J-1 research scholar visa at an American university doing research work with them there. They can transfer over to the private sector for the remaining duration of their J-1 research scholar visa or extend to the maximum of five years. So that’s one example. Another example is a lot of the STEM companies that are within the STEM field, they do have a robust internship program, international internship programs. So those interns who come in on the J-1 after a period of time can qualify to come in on the J-1 research scholar visa as well.
BAL: Others who might be ripe for a J-1 visa opportunity include students in the U.S. on F-1 OPT, students from foreign universities doing research in relevant fields, and experienced professionals in engineering and other STEM fields working in company locations outside the U.S. Clinton said the Early Career STEM initiative and the efforts to promote J-1 opportunities are part of a broader effort not only to protect the domestic economy but also to help keep the U.S. competitive globally.
Clinton: There’s many other countries — think about Canada, you think about Australia and New Zealand — that are becoming, frankly, maybe a little bit more attractive, both from a higher education cost standpoint but also immigration policy standpoint that the U.S. is starting to lose that competitive edge of being able to attract foreign-born people. With that decline, we’re going to see, and we’re already seeing it, the U.S. sort of slipping in its global competition.
BAL: Clinton said the U.S.’s talent pool will determine how the U.S. will fare in the global competition over new and emerging technologies.
Clinton: It’s going to rely on talent. We can have all the policies and ambitions in the world, but if we don’t actually have the people to be driving those innovations, we’re going to fall behind.
BAL: Jennifer Clinton and Cyn Rowan will join BAL’s Saima Hussain on Aug. 17 for a BAL Community event on Cultural Vistas and J-1 visa opportunities. For more information, visit community.BAL.com/events.
The governments of Brazil and Mexico have agreed to resume granting e-visas to citizens of the other country for tourist and business travel. Mexico had previously suspended e-visas for Brazilian nationals in August 2022. Until the program resumes, Brazilian nationals may enter Mexico with a valid visa or if they are permanent residents of Canada, Japan, the U.K., the U.S. or some Schengen area countries. Officials have not yet announced when the agreement will take effect.
The Israeli government recently announced that U.S. citizens who hold dual citizenship in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon or Syria may obtain a special permit to enter the country under some circumstances. The regulation allows Israel’s minister of the interior to grant an entry permit in these cases if applicants demonstrate that their presence serves the interests of Israel. The permit is valid for 90 days, but work activities may not be performed during the permit holder’s stay. American citizens with dual citizenship in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon or Syria are otherwise prohibited from entering Israel.
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