The State Department has submitted a Federal Register notice on a planned H-1B domestic visa renewal pilot to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

‌Key Points:

  • The notice is currently under review by OMB.
  • Details of the notice, including eligibility requirements for the limited H-1B pilot, are not yet publicly available.
  • Once OMB has completed its review, the State Department can publish the notice in the Federal Register.

‌Additional Information: Domestic visa renewals have not been broadly available since 2004. The State Department announced plans for a domestic renewal pilot in February.

BAL Analysis: The pilot is a significant step towards bringing back a domestic visa renewal program. While details are not available yet, the pilot is expected to apply to a limited number of H-1B visa holders before being reviewed and potentially expanded to a larger program in the future. Eligibility criteria, scope and duration of the pilot will not be known until the notice is cleared and published in the Federal Register. BAL will continue following the matter and will provide information once it becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group.

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