Speculation has been swirling ever since since the US president hung new curtains in the White House that his administration and US Congress will make changes to the H1-B visa program.The program currently allows an estimated 900,000 highly-skilled, foreign workers to work in the US; changes may include:Significantly increasing the salary requirement for workers on H1-B visas. Changing how H-1B are allocated to employers, moving away from a lottery system. Revising rules related to work visas for the spouses of H1-B visa holders. Limiting companies that already employ a large number of H-1B employees from hiring additional H-1B workers. Requiring evidence that that H-1B visa holders are not being hired to replace U.S. workers. An estimated 13% of technology jobs in America are filled by H-1B visa holders. While corporate IT teams will certainly feel the wind of change blowing through their own staffing set-up, they will also see big differences when working with sourcing partners who employ lots of staff on H-1B visas.First, they assessed the level of competency required in technical, process, business, and people skills for roles and “job families.” Second, they assessed offshoring feasibility for these roles based on (a) their strategic impact on business objectives, and (b) the frequency of collaboration required with onshore IT groups. Offshoring becomes more feasible when the strategic impact of a role is more limited, and when the required degree of collaboration is less frequent. That said, this “suitability analysis” can be shifted by investment in the tools that permit teams to collaborate more effectively: frequent, or even constant, collaboration may warrant additional investment.4. Re-consider the feasibility of “near-shore” and other talent pools close to the US: Countries operating in the North American time zone – particularly Canada – are easing immigration restrictions on skilled tech talent, a trend that may or may not be followed by other countries close to the US.Employers may also need to expand their search to other US regions and increase outreach to under-represented groups.Contributed by CEB, a best practice insight and technology company.
Enterprise, Security Staff Acquisition & Development
Potential H1-B Visa Program Changes: How to Prepare IT Now

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