Tech companies are watching this years H-1B visa lottery, which opened up on April 1, closely. Changes to the system are expected to give master's degree candidates a better shot.
Vraj Parikh started coding when he was 8 years old. He's been coding ever since, with his passion for computer programming bringing him to the United States, where he received a master's in computer science from Indiana University. After a stint at a company in Boston, Parikh now works as a software engineer at PayPal.
Parikh is applying for an H-1B visa, which tech companies like Facebook and Microsoft rely on heavily to fill technical positions like software engineers. The application window for the lottery just opened this week, and the competition is stiff. But Parikh might have a leg up on the competition this year. Under a change to the H-1B visa lottery this year, the Trump administration is allowing master's candidates to apply in both the general and the master's degree pool of candidates, and the 20,000 master's candidates will be selected first. Master's graduates who aren't selected in that lottery will then be moved over to the general pool for consideration.
The tech community has been bracing for changes to the H-1B lottery ever since President Trump was elected, after assailing the system during his campaign. Critics of the system say lower-paid H-1B workers often replace American workers with cheaper counterparts from overseas. Howard University professor Ron Hira, an outspoken critic of the H-1B lottery, says the latest changes to the lottery are small compared to the overhaul President Trump suggested he would make during his campaign.
Many U.S. tech companies are among the top 30 employers with the most H-1B approvals, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. However, Anver says those approvals come at a cost. Since the Trump administration, requests for evidence have spiked. She adds those requests can often be cumbersome, costing companies time and money.
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