The Biden administration unveiled a number of recommendations on Monday to alter the process by which work visas are issued and the privileges they offer to foreign workers.

The modifications “to modernize and improve the efficiency of the H-1B program, add benefits and flexibilities, and improve integrity measures” were made and published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Federal Register.

For many supporters and scholars, however, the plans are hit or miss.

The policy, according to David Bier, assistant director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, “is a very modest attempt to make the H-1B program work a little bit better than it does now.”

Overall, the plan tightens requirements that attorneys fear may make the application process more challenging while loosening certain components of the H-1B.

The H-1B visa is intended for professionals in specialized fields, such as foreign-born engineers, physicians, and journalists who work in the United States.

The visa is often issued to graduates of American colleges, and for many people it acts as a transitional step between studying in the country for college or graduate school and becoming a citizen or permanent resident.

But the H-1B is a trap for a lot of other people.

The H-1B is, in theory, only valid for three years, after which the recipient may either change to another status—such as a green card—or leave the country.

However, there is a per-country restriction for green cards, meaning no one nation may get more than 7% of the yearly allotment. As a result, citizens of nations with high H-1B use rates, like India, are left with decades-long backlogs and must renew their visas each year after the two three-year terms are over.

The quota for green cards this year will be swiftly filled since there aren’t enough of them, and it won’t only be Indians who qualify for them anymore. Everyone will begin to experience longer wait times, according to Bier.

Workers waiting for green cards are particularly vulnerable to labor exploitation since present restrictions make changing jobs hazardous and difficult.

According to Bier, the new law includes wording that can make it harder to get the visa in the first place and does not solve this problem.

The new regulation’s stricter requirements for matching college and graduate degree levels with jobs, according to immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta, “will make the H-1B program more restrictive and will negate all the good features.”

“The proposed regulation seeking to amend the definition of’specialty occupation’ is of great concern as it would incentivize [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] examiners to issue requests for evidence, which in turn would be burdensome on employers,” wrote Mehta.

The current plan from the government would use wording similar to one from the Trump administration, which said that an applicant’s work had to be “directly related” to their education and the requirements of any specific position.

Immigration law experts are concerned that this policy may result in unneeded red tape since individuals often pursue one course of study before working in a completely other profession.

But the administration’s plan also reduces the risk associated with submitting an H-1B application.

No matter how many individuals apply, only a certain number of people will get a visa; the recipients are selected at random from the pool of qualified candidates.

This has caused many prospective candidates to reevaluate the costs and difficulty of submitting an application, while other applicants join the system again under the sponsorship of various corporations to get additional lottery tickets.

No matter how many applications a person submitted, they would only count once in the lottery under the new approach.

The new plan would define a method for entrepreneurs to self-sponsor, when only organizations with U.S. headquarters may now sponsor applications.

Since the whole situation was overturned in court, it should now be legal for any business to sponsor themselves for an H-1B visa. However, in fact, I’ve been informed that this is not the case. They continue to make it difficult to accomplish that,” added Bier.

Additionally, the idea would lengthen the amount of time that new graduates from American institutions may work before they must complete Optional Practical Training, making it simpler to arrange applications to prevent breaks in employment eligibility.

Additionally, it would make U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the organization that issues work permits, obligated to follow its earlier judgments, making renewals for those with unaltered underlying conditions almost assured.

The State Department is also considering a plan that would let H-1B applicants get their visa stamps without leaving the country. At the moment, applicants had to leave the nation in order to get stamps from a U.S. consulate overseas.

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