The new law allows foreign workers temporarily admitted to the U.S. to change jobs more easily, wait until the end of their initial job approval period to apply for permanent residence, and remain in the U.S. until their permanent residence applications have been decided.

                The law involves the most common method of business-related immigration into the U.S., the "H-1" category involving professional occupations. In the H-1 category, a U.S. employer is permitted to bring in foreign workers with qualifications in a number of specific professional categories, many of which are technical and most of which require the equivalent of a four-year college degree.

                H-1 immigrants may remain in the U.S. only for a "temporary" period of six years.  Prior to the new law, this period could be extended only by filing a permanent residence application which often would not be decided before the period expired.  H-1 immigrants were permitted to change employers only if they pre-filed an application which took three months or more to process.  Only 115,000 H-1 visas could be issued in a particular year and the quota would run out midway through each year.

                The new legislation makes all of these processes much more flexible and much more favorable to foreign workers and their employers. Initially, the annual cap for H-1 temporary professional workers was raised from 115,000 to 195,000.

                Secondly, procedures for allowing an approved H-1 professional to change employment have become much more flexible.  Rather than waiting for a job change approval as under the prior rules, an employer now is permitted to begin using a previously admitted H-1 professional as soon as the employer files a job change petition.

                Perhaps most significantly, however, the statute makes several changes which effectively allow H-1 professionals to remain in the U.S. for as long as necessary to have their permanent residence petitions evaluated.  Under the new statute, as long as professionals apply for permanent residence more than one year prior to the end of their six-year temporary stay, they will be permitted to remain in the U.S. for as long as necessary for the process to be completed.

                Hiring foreign professional workers continues to be an involved process involving detailed rules and an agency which is understaffed and difficult to communicate with. The recent changes, however, have removed some of the inconsistencies and frustrations in this process for foreign professionals and their employers.

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