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ARTICLE · 09 FEBRUARY 2021

Biden Administration Delays Trump-Era Rule Changing H-1B Lottery System

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The Biden Administration announced that it would delay implementing a new rule promulgated in the waning days of the Trump Administration that would change the long-standing practice of allocating H-1B visa.

United StatesImmigration
Stephen Jonas
Stephen Jonas
Benjamin Conery
Benjamin Conery
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The Biden Administration announced that it would delay implementing a new rule promulgated in the waning days of the Trump Administration that would change the long-standing practice of allocating H-1B visas for highly skilled workers through a random lottery in favor of a system that would give preference to applications associated with higher-paying positions. The new rule, which was published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2021, and set to take effect on March 9, 2021, will not be implemented until December 31, 2021, although the Biden Administration did not foreclose the possibility that it would alter the rule.

In a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on February 8, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which administers the H-1B program through its component agency the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), stated that it "expects that delaying the rule to December 31, 2021, will provide USCIS sufficient time to

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