H 1B Pontiac MI

Pontiac’s Most Trusted Legal Counsel Regarding H-1B

After completion of a College or University, a F-1 program, or a J-1 program, many foreign visitors prefer to work in the United States rather than immediately return back to their home countries. One course of action to receive lawful status is to obtain a H-1B visa, which allows the foreign visitor to legally work and live in the United States for up to a total of 6 years. H1-B visas are a means for companies and corporations in the United States to obtain needed skilled, professional, legal workers that are foreign visitors, based upon a shortage of available United States workers to fill the open job positions. The largest number of H1-B visas are in the STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), however H1-Bs visas apply to a surprisingly diverse variety of other skilled, professional job positions.

The H-1B petitioner must establish the following to the satisfaction of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): 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. Sometimes foreign visitors without advanced degrees are lawfully able to receive H1-B visas by substituting their work experience when they are missing the educational requirement.

The United States government has a policy objective to protect United States workers from foreigners, and to encourage the hiring of US citizens and green card holders over all other qualified workers. Companies and corporations located in the United States are prohibited from hiring cheap foreign labor to try and save money. US laws concerning H1-B visas mandate that companies and corporations pay any foreign worker 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). The company or corporate employer are required to attest that the employment of the foreigner will not negatively affect the working conditions and wages of similarly employed United States workers, and the company or corporate employer must also notify its own workers with notice of the employer’s intention to hire an H1-B worker.

Because of the imposition of an “H-1B cap”, there are only a a limited number of H1-Bs that will be approved each year by the USCIS, which is often reached within days after the opening of the H1-B submission period. It is imperative that the H1-B petition is submitted ASAP to give the foreigner a chance of being successful before the slots are filled by others, because every year the number of H1-B petitions submitted exceeds the number of available H1-B visas. Based upon the popularity of H1-B visas, a “H1-B lottery” is conducted by the USCIS to determine which applications will be processed, and which ones will be rejected. A potential exception to this is for H1-B applications for foreign workers at non-profit organizations, research institutes, educational facilities, and hospitals. They are often not subject to the H1-B cap restrictions, which allows companies and corporations to petition the foreigner at any time during the year.

“Dual intent” is allowed for foreign visitors who successfully receive an H1-B visa, which means that the individual can intend to remain in the United States temporarily or permanently. In many cases a company/corporation is willing and able to file an employment based green card application to sponsor the alien employee, and with this many foreigners under H1-B visas eventually seek Lawful Permanent Residency.

A wise decision is to hire attorney Sufen Hilf to handle any and all H1-B petitions for a variety of reasons: first, Immigration laws are constantly subject to modification and change, and you need someone who is up to date on changes in law and policy; 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 for experienced and professional immigration legal representation, including H1-B visa petitions.