Today, the U.S. State Department announced its final decision for the 2018 revisions of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System. The SOC system was designed to reflect the current occupational composition in the U.S. by classifying all occupations in the economy to facilitate comparisons across occupational data. In the latest revision, 70 new detailed occupations were added.
Because many employment-based immigration filings require selecting an appropriate SOC code to classify the occupation, the revisions to the SOC system may cause concern in light of the increased scrutiny from USCIS this year. However, the SOC code list is updated periodically as new and emerging job categories need to be continuously adjusted to fit within current occupational classifications for visa applicants to reflect the current state of the U.S. workforce.