After receiving a degree from a College or University, completing an F-1 program, or completing a J-1 program, many foreign citizens are seeking a solution to legally remain and have a career in the United States. An H-1B visa is the first option for many, because it permits the foreign citizen to legally work and reside in the United States for up to a total of 6 years. H1-B visas provide a way organizations and businesses to legally obtain skilled and professional employees, due to a shortage of available United States workers to fill skilled job positions. H1-B petitions are largely sought for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics related job positions; however H1-Bs visas apply to a large number of skilled, professional job positions from a variety of other disciplines.
The petitioner must successfully establish several statutory requirements to receive H1-B approval: the employment is for a “specialty occupation”, which means that the entry level educational requirement is at least a bachelor degree in fields related to the employment; the foreign visitor qualifies as a professional; and that Labor Condition Application (LCA) is certified by the United States Department of Labor. Some foreign citizens without advanced degrees are able to receive H1-B visas by substituting their work experience, however this is a very complicated legal area which is best left for an immigration lawyer to handle.
The United States government tries to protect US citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents from all foreign citizen labor competition, and to encourage the hiring of US citizens and green card holders over all other qualified workers. Organizations and businesses cannot hire foreign workers in the US that are willing to work for low wages to increase their profits, because H1-B laws require payment of wages to any foreign worker to be the higher of the actual (the wage paid to other workers in similar positions) or the prevailing wage (the average salary for workers in the relevant area of employment). With every H1-B petition that is submitted to the USCIS, the employer must attest that the employment of the non-citizen worker will not affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed United States workers, and the company or organization must also notify its own workers of the its’ intention to hire any H1-B worker.
In order to limit the number of foreign workers, the US government imposes a “H-1B cap”, which limits the number of H1-Bs that will be authorized and processed each year by the USCIS. Based upon the large numbers of H1-B applicants and the small number of available visas, a “H1-B lottery” is conducted by the USCIS to decide which of the petitions submitted will be processed each year. One exception to the H1-B cap limitations is for non-profit organizations, research institutes, educational facilities, and hospital employers, which are sometimes allowed to petition non-citizen worker at any time during the year without H1-B cap limitations.
Someone who receives a H1-B visa from the USCIS is permitted to have “dual intent”, meaning that the foreign citizen H1-B visa recipient is permitted to maintain an intent to remain in the United States on a temporary or on a permanent basis. At a future point in time, the organization or business employer is also allowed to petition for an employment based green card application to sponsor the non-citizen worker, which permits the the non-citizen worker to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder) upon approval.
When it comes to business related immigration, you should immediately hire immigration lawyer Sufen Hilf of Hilf & Hilf, PLC to handle all H1-B cases for a variety of reasons: first, Immigration laws are constantly subject to change, and you need someone who is up to date on changes in law and policy to properly handle your file; second, there are a number of situations that are more heavily scrutinized (for example: third party placement; positions at lower wage levels; H1-B visa transfers; positions that have low qualification or skill requirements; students on F-1 visas and OPT seeking a H1-B visa; etc.) which should be handled by a lawyer; third, there are many technical components to filing the H1-B petition, such as correctly completing and filing the petition, accurately providing prevailing wage information, responding to a Request for Evidence, etc. that also require a competent immigration lawyer’s representation; fourth, having someone to answer questions and provide information concerning the file is an important and stress reducing part of the process. Contact Hilf & Hilf, PLC today for awarding winning immigration representation from respected immigration lawyers.