GMAC asks US lawmakers to go easy on H-1B restrictions

H-1B visa category applies to people that wish to stay in the US temporarily as a worker in any of the “specialty occupations”, a fashion model (of distinguished ability or merit), or to be engaged in cooperative research and development projects of the Department of Defense (DOD).

H-1B	Specialty Occupations
H-1B2	Project Worker, Research and Development with DOD
H-1B3	Fashion Model

As per the official statistics by the US Department of Labour, a total of 102,554 H-1B applications were processed in Financial Year 2019, Quarter 4. The applications processed quarter-wise in FY2019 were as follows:

Source: US Department of Labour [Data as on September 30, 2019]

The top occupations that got H-1B visas in FY 2019 were:

Source: US Department of Labour

Recently, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) published an open letter on their official website. Signed by 15 CEOs and 55 business school deans, the public letter urged the US government leaders to re-examine the current visa and immigration policies.

In a letter sent to the Congress and the Trump Administration, the GMAC has asked the leaders in the government for increasing the H-1B visas for international students stating that the economy would suffer in the long-term from having an acute shortage of skilled workers.

Research has found a correlation between innovation on one hand and job creation as well as higher wages on the other. It has been found that innovation of the H-1B visa workers has been responsible for a higher number of patents and an increased demand, leading to higher wages in the local economies.

According to the signatories of the letter, there was a shortage of highly skilled workers. Asking for changes to be made in the existing visa and immigration policy in the US, the GMAC has urged the H-1B visa cap to be lifted so that the US businesses could get the skilled workers required for filling the positions.

Currently, the FY 2020 cap stands at:

Cap Type	Cap Amount
H-1B Regular Cap	65,000
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption	20,000

Only time will tell if the recommendations by the GMAC are indeed adopted or overlooked altogether.

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