Our US Immigration Attorney has successfully filed hundreds of H1B visa applications, H1B visa change of employer applications, H1B visa extensions, and H1B visa amended applications for individuals and corporate clients.  She has filed H1B visas for doctors, post-doctorate students, scientists, businessmen, marketing researchers, various IT professionals (computer programmer, system analysts, software engineers, database administrator, etc), graphic designers, various engineers (mechanical, chemical), health care professionals, start-up companies, and more.

Our US Immigration Attorney sincerely understands the urgency for individuals to be able to obtain a temporary work visa and for employers to be able to recruit and employ essential employees.  This is why our US Immigration Attorney herself takes the initiative to work late evenings and weekends to ensure that all applications are ready for filing on the first day of H1B visa filing.  Our US Immigration Attorney guarantees that from the date she is retained, so long as all supporting documents are available, all H1B visa applications will be prepared and ready for filing within 24-48 hours.

Please contact our office at 800.993.9097 or via email at info@usimmhelp.com with any questions or concerns regarding the filing process, requirements, or sponsorship.  Our US Immigration Attorney will take the time to answer all of your concerns.

Overview of the H1B Specialty Occupation Visa
The H1B is a non-immigrant visa category allowing U.S. employers to seek temporary employment from skilled foreigners who have the equivalent U.S. Bachelor's Degree education who will be temporarily employed in a "specialty occupation".  A specialty occupation is one that requires theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge along with at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.  For example, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts may be considered to be specialty occupations.

Limited Annual Quota:  The number of H-1B visas issued per year is limited to 65,000 with an additional 20,000 for those with U.S. graduate degrees and there is no limit for universities and non-profit and government research laboratories.  This limited quota creates significant competitiveness for this visa.   

 April 1 Filing Date:  Each fiscal year, the first date the H1B visa applications are accepted by the immigration service is April 1.  The start date of each new H1B visa is October 1.  Therefore, it is always recommended that the H1B visa application is ready for filing on March 31, to arrive at the immigration service on April 1.

Duration of Visa:  The H1B visa is valid for a maximum period of six years at a time.  After that time an alien must remain outside the United States for one year before s/he qualifies for another H1B visa.  There are two exceptions for:

·certain aliens working on Defense Department projects who may remain in H-1B status for 10; and

·certain aliens may obtain an extension of H1B stay beyond the 6-year maximum period, when 365 days or more have passed since the filing of any application for Labor Certification, that is required or used by the alien to obtain status as an employment-based immigrant, or 365 days or more have passed since the filing of an employment based immigrant petition.

Change of Employer:  An alien may change H1B employers without affecting his visa status.  The new H-1B employer must file a new Form I-129 petition for the alien before he begins working for the new employer. 
 

Part-time Employment:  An H-1B alien may work in full or part-time employment and remain in status. To work part-time, the alien may apply for a part-time H1B visa.  If the alien wishes to change from full-time to part-tine, the alien must file an amended H1B visa application with the immigration service.
 

Temporary Leave of Absence Allowed An H-1B alien may also take a valid leave of absence without affecting his or her status.  As long as the employer/employee relationship exists, the H1B visa will remain valid.

Processing:  For first time H1B visa applications, we strongly recommend that all employers prepare all applications for filing ahead of time ready for immediate submission for filing on March 30 for April 1 delivery.  The H1B visa filing process includes the following steps:

Step 1: Review Employee’s Credentials and if necessary, obtain a US Bachelor Degree Equivalency Evaluation Report for employee’s

Step 2: File Labor Condition Application (LCA) via online with the Department of Labor

Step 3: Post the LCA for public examination at the employer's principal place of business in the U.S. or the place of employment within one working day after the date on which the LCA is filed with ETA.

Step 4: File H1B Visa Application with a copy of the approved LCA with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) having jurisdiction over the principal place of intended employment.

Step 5: Once the H1B Visa is approved, prepare the employee for his H1B visa stamping appointment at the US Embassy abroad.  If the employee is already in the US, then his visa status will be automatically changed to an H1B visa on the start date.

Step 6: Employee shall start working only from the start date stated on the H1B visa approval notice. Note the only exception to the start date is if the employee filed an H1B change of employer application, where the employee can then start working for the new employer as soon as the H1B change of employer application was filed with USCIS.