Bloomberg Law, TechTarget Quote Maka Hutson on H-1B Lottery Forecast

Both Bloomberg Law and TechTarget have quoted Akin Gump international trade counsel Maka Hutson on potential changes to the H-1B visa driven by legislation, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced on February 18 in the U.S. House and Senate.

In its article “Lawmakers Revisit Changes to H-1B Lottery in Immigration Plan,” Bloomberg Law quotes Hutson as noting that the bill would give the secretaries of Homeland Security and Labor authority to determine the order in which H-1B visas would be distributed among workers, including on the basis of wages offered by employers. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this month that it was postponing the Trump administration’s H-1B lottery rule’s effective date until the end of the year.

Hutson, whose practice focuses on immigration as well as trade matters, said that the Biden administration’s delay of the H-1B lottery rule’s implementation wouldn’t affect the selection process for this year, but added, “However, next year’s H-1B lottery may very well be based on a wage-based priority.”

Regarding how the Biden administration would implement the plan, she noted that it could make its own changes, such as opting to exempt certain industries, for example, nonprofits, from the wage-based priority system, but noted, “There could still be significant changes to how this is implemented, but the proposed statutory language would certainly strengthen the ability of the administration to prioritize higher-paid H-1B workers in the lottery.”

In “Biden favors green cards over H-1B work visas,” TechTarget quoted Hutson as saying there are many possible outcomes regarding H-1B wages. Noting that smaller employers, such as startups, or nonprofits could be exempted from a wage rule, she said, “There's definitely a lot to think through, and hopefully, the administration will be receptive to all the cascading effects of this type of H-1B [wage-based] selection.”