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USA Visa

H1 B Visa

An H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that is based on employment for a temporary worker. To get this visa, an employer needs to provide a candidate with a job offer in the USA and apply for the prospective immigrant’s visa petition to the US immigration authority. This granted petition is a work permit that will make possible for the candidate to receive a visa stamp and work for the employer in the US.

Although the necessary information is provided in this article, it’s wise to be in touch with an efficient immigration professional to know more about the USA Immigration Visa. Immigrating to the USA is much more complicated than in other countries.

H1 B Visa News

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on 31, July 2018, they have returned all the petitions of H1 B visas, famous among Indian IT workers, who were not chosen in the computer-generated lottery in the month of April.

H1 B Visa 2019

According to the update on the USA immigration authority website, the USCIS will begin accepting H1 B Visa Petitions from April 2, 2018. Generally, the organization begins accepting applications for the next fiscal year just six months before starting the next fiscal year. So, the fiscal year for 2019 starts from 1, October 2018. It means that the immigration authority will accept applications for the fiscal year 2019 from 1, April 2018. This day is a Sunday, so the USCIS will accept applications for FY (fiscal year) 2019 season from the 2nd of April, 2018.

H1 B Visa Requirements

The person aspiring for an H1 B visa should fulfill the following requirements to be eligible for an H1B visa:

You Need To Have Any Meet Any One Of The Requirements:

  1. You need to have a Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree or the foreign degree of the equal value from your country.
  2. You must have 12-year work experience.
  3. You need to have a mixture of further education and work experience.

General Rule For H1B Visa Qualification Is Given Below:

  1. The candidate’s every one-year period of work experience will provide 1 point.
  2. The applicant’s every 1-year of study at a college/ university will offer 3 points.

The prospective immigrant wants to have H1 B visa needs to have 12 points to be eligible for this visa program.

H1 B Visa Application

A candidate can’t apply for an H1 B Visa; it demands sponsoring from a US employer. The starting of this visa filing period is from the 1st of April, and it continues until the quota is fulfilled. Employers and sponsors of H1 B visa keep changing each year. This visa is a dual intent visa as it allows its holder to get permanent residency too.

H1B Visas Occupation List

As a prospective US immigrant if you find your job field not on the list given below, feel free to contact us to seek our consultation or advice. The following are the H1 Visa fields (it may include more):

  1. Architecture
  2. Accountancy
  3. Arts
  4. Computer programming
  5. Engineering
  6. Education
  7. International business management
  8. Law
  9. Journalism
  10. Mathematics
  11. Health/Medicine
  12. Nursing
  13. Modeling
  14. Sciences
  15. Research
  16. Theology
  17. Social sciences

H1 B Visa Quota

  1. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) limits the number of the issuance of the H1 B visas in a year.
  2. These numbers are subject to change according to the US government’s rules. According to the history, the limit is 65,000.
  3. An extra of 20,000 H1 B visas is allotted for eligible candidates having a Master’s degree from the USA.
  4. A deadline is put in every calendar year in which the employers of the country need to have filed for their H1 B visa petitions for the next financial year.
  5. All petitions coming after this date will be rejected.
  6. Because of a limited number of H1 B visas issued, the required number is fulfilled within some days of the deadline.
  7. If the number remains unfulfilled, the USCIS keeps accepting applications to reach the limited number.

H1 B Petition Filing Fee

An employer has to pay the filing fee for H1 B petition. The fee is between $1570 and $2320. The table listed below will make all clear to you:

Fee components For employers with 1 to 25 full- time equivalent employees For employers with 26 or more full-time equivalent employees
Base Fee $325 $325
American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA) fee: $750 $1500
Public Law Fee $4,000 $4,000
Fraud Fee $500 $500
Total $1570 $2320
Premium Processing Fee $1,225 (optional) $1,225 (optional)

Additional lawyer’s fee may need to be paid.

H1 B visa limit

An H1 B visa holder can stay in the USA for 6 years. The visa holder will be allowed, initially, to stay for 3 years in the country. This approval can be extended up to 3 more years.

H1 B Visa Re-Stamping

An H1 B visa re-stamping can be done at any American embassy in any other country, except for the holder’s own home country on the condition that the applicant has had the H1 B extension approval.

Work With More Than One Employer

If an individual holds a valid H1 B visa, they can work for more than one USA employer providing that they have a Form I-129 petition approval given each employer, but these issues happen rarely.

Travel

The H1 B visa can work like a multiple entry visa, which will make possible for its holder to travel outside or in the USA within the validity period of the visa.

Work

H1 B holder may work for the petitioning USA employer, and this employer may transfer the employee to work on the work site of any other employer as part of the company contract. It is illegal if the visa holder works for an employer who has not sponsored the H1B visa petition.

Enjoying vacation

An H1 B visa holder can have the benefits like enjoying vacations, having sick/paternity/maternity leave and going on strike. No problem will happen providing that the person is associated with the employer.

Family Status Of The Visa Holder

The person having an H1 B holder whose spouse and unmarried children (below 21) can stay in the US as per a dependent category that is known as the H4 visa for the same period as the H1 status.

Eligibility For Permanent Residence (Green Card)

The person having H1B visa can get permanent residence status in the USA. They need to apply for a change of status via the form I-485.

Choosing Another Employer

The H1b alien can be placed to a new employer. They can also begin to work for the new employer after having the receipt of an H1 transfer case.

Investing And Financing

Having an H1 B visa allows somebody to buy and sell a property or real estate in the USA. The visa holder can buy lottery tickets. Apart from that, the person can invest in the stock market.

Is It Mandatory For An H1B Visa Holder To Work At All Times?

Until the relationship between an employer and employee ends, the person having H1B visa remains in status. The person can do a full or part-time job and continue to be in status. The individual can apply for a vacation, paternity/maternity/sick leave, go on strike and be inactive without affecting their status.

Many things are dependent on the work relationship of the individual with the visa. The person can have all the benefits of their employment like other workers.

Important Points To Remember

If all goes normally, there will not be any problem with the visa holder’s status. But, there some points you must remember:

As long as the foreign worker keeps working for a US employer, most changes will not affect their visa status. The employee may change employers without affecting own H1B status. But, any probable future H1B employer has to file a new Form I-129 for the worker before the visa holder starts working for the employer.

The sale or merger of H1B employer’s business will not lay any effect on the visa holder’s status in some cases. But, if any change in the employee’s work other than the ones mentioned in the law happens, that may be taken as a violation. For instance, if the alien works in a capacity that is not the specialty occupation petitioned for after the H1B employer’s sale of business, it will be definitely a status violation.

H1 B Visa Process

The H1 B via process is divided into the three steps given below:

  1. A sponsoring employer has to apply for and get a Department of Labour (DOL) certification of Labour Condition Application (LCA).
  2. The employer needs to file a petition for a non-immigrant employee to the USCIS Service Centre with a DOL-certified LCA.
  3. If the petition receives approval, the probable candidate may apply for an H1 B visa at a US embassy abroad.

H1 B Visa Processing Time

The processing time for the visa processing is dependent on the specific case lodged on the basis of some personal circumstances.

The average time is between 3 and 6 months which is consumed for this visa application processing of a foreign candidate if all requirements are fulfilled.

For availing more information about the H1 B Visa for the USA immigration, call the corporate hotline +91-7042 184 185 / email your queries on info@makevisas.com. You can directly walk-in to our nearby office for more details and enquiry.

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