A bipartisan group of two powerful American Senators on Wednesday urged the President Joe Biden administration to implement the H-1B visa programme reforms issued by the Donald Trump government in January, under which the visas were to be issued on the criteria of wages and not by a computerised draw of lots. Five weeks later, the Biden administration on February 4, announced a delay in the effective date of the H-1B selection rule from March 9 to December 31, 2021. The Department of Homeland Security has announced going back to the lottery system.
Observing that establishing an equitable distribution of new visas is a key starting point to ensuring that the H-1B visa program is not used to lower wages and displace American workers, the senators said that the annual H-1B visa lottery has been abused for years by outsourcing companies.