<p class="title">The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for H-1B visas, began the process on Monday with an unprecedented scrutiny.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H-1B visa, the non-immigrant visa, is the most sought-after visa among skilled Indian professionals. Both domestic and US companies use this to employ foreign workers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Although there is an annual numerical limit cap of 65,000 for H-1B visas each fiscal year, after Chinese, Indians are the second highest to apply for this visa. As per the rule, the first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher are exempt from the cap.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H-1B visa processing was embroiled in a controversy last year when the US temporarily suspended the premium processing in March.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The US government made tougher requirements to process H-1B visa for Indian professionals. In February this year, the government also decided to shorten visa tenure of third-party contract workers and made renewal clauses very tough.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In an email response to DH, the USCIS Public Affairs Officer Arwen FitzGerald stated that on Monday, the Department will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the FY19 cap. "We will not have specific information about the petitions until after we run the lottery," FitzGerald added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ahead of the H-1B visa application process for the fiscal year 2019 beginning October 1 this year, the USCIS warned that all duplicate applications would be subject to rejection. </p>
<p class="title">The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for H-1B visas, began the process on Monday with an unprecedented scrutiny.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H-1B visa, the non-immigrant visa, is the most sought-after visa among skilled Indian professionals. Both domestic and US companies use this to employ foreign workers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Although there is an annual numerical limit cap of 65,000 for H-1B visas each fiscal year, after Chinese, Indians are the second highest to apply for this visa. As per the rule, the first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher are exempt from the cap.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H-1B visa processing was embroiled in a controversy last year when the US temporarily suspended the premium processing in March.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The US government made tougher requirements to process H-1B visa for Indian professionals. In February this year, the government also decided to shorten visa tenure of third-party contract workers and made renewal clauses very tough.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In an email response to DH, the USCIS Public Affairs Officer Arwen FitzGerald stated that on Monday, the Department will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the FY19 cap. "We will not have specific information about the petitions until after we run the lottery," FitzGerald added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ahead of the H-1B visa application process for the fiscal year 2019 beginning October 1 this year, the USCIS warned that all duplicate applications would be subject to rejection. </p>
