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Comment by CPLX | Hacker News Reader

This is interesting. Does anyone know what tactics they’re trying to stop? Sounds like something specific.

I think USCIS is trying to fix one common misuse by certain applicants where he /she applies for H1B through more than one employers ( typically body shop companies) and tries to increase his\her odds of getting the visa. Sometimes the applicant gets more than one H1B visa and wasting the limited visas.

No, this is totally allowed. If you can get more than one legit offer, you can apply more than once.

What isn't allowed is the same company applying for you through multiple subsidiaries or contracting agencies.

You can get one chance per applicant now. So if 10 companies apply for you, the chance of being selected is the same as if only 1 company apply for you.

Awesome! Hopefully this increases the probabilities for everyone.

Before, multiple companies could register the same person for the lottery, therefore increasing the odds for said person.

This is now no longer possible.

Why it took so long to implement this rule is a mystery though. Seems like such an obvious loophole.

It used to be much more expensive to make an H1B petition so this strategy was not viable. Then they made it way cheaper, leading to the mass applications.

yeah, I've heard a bit about this- basically, it is technically legal right now to have multiple job offers from separate employers to get multiple H1B lottery tickets. The abuse comes from some shady operations, that will basically give you 3-10 "offers" from various consulting firms, where you'll be paid way less than market rate to work at any of them, with the idea being if you win a ticket from any then you trade off your potential salary for the H1b.

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