The Biden memo requires H-1B visas to be issued to the persons who are in compliance with the advisory’s prescription.
To those who have taken issue with the memo, the senior administration official notes that this does not mean that 95 percent of the applicants have complied. The memo only requires H-1B visas to be issued to those who are in compliance with the memorandum’s prescription.
The senior administration official also notes that only about the 4 percent of applicants have fallen below the prescribed threshold, while the remaining 95 percent have followed the prescription.
One of the few specific items the memo, according to the senior administration official is that the processors should seek to correct all the visa expiration dates prior to processing. An example could be a lab report showing that an immigrant is working in a place where such work is not allowed by federal law. Processing of these reports would need to be completed prior to resuming the visa application for review.
The total number of visa applications pending is at about 7,600, with the bulk of the applications being for the H-1B visas. When compared to the many number of visa applications processed annually it is pretty insignificant when it comes to a portion of the total total. Most H-1B visas are not processed in advance of expiration and the decision is made by lottery.
“There will be another lottery conducted during the next few weeks, and if there are any petitions that reach the goal of 6 percent (those that have an expiration date after March 31, 2018) that would be prioritized,” a senior administration official said.