The H-1B visa allows employers to hire foreign professionals in certain specialty occupations to work in the United States temporarily. Typically, these workers are highly technically skilled persons with at least a bachelor’s degree.

To be eligible for the H-1B visa, the U.S. employer and foreign employee must follow the regulations of the United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, including compliance with Department of Labor standards. Compliance includes filing a Labor Condition Application (LCA).

What are the requirements to obtain an H-1B visa?

Employers seeking H-1B visas for employees must ensure the role and candidate meet position and education requirements.

The position must be a “specialty occupation” requiring a bachelor’s degree or other advanced education certification levels. The types of roles for H-1B visa applicants usually include attorneys, researchers, data programmers, engineers, architects, professors, medical personnel, doctors, and accountants. The bachelor’s degree required by the H-1B visa must come from an accredited college or university and relate to the H-1B specialty occupation.

The USCIS has a detailed list of additional requirements that include the following:

• Obtaining a positive prevailing wage determination that the wage being paid to the foreign worked is at least the wage paid to other U.S. employees in similar fields
• Asserting that the employment of the foreign professional will not affect U.S. working conditions in similar fields
• Posting a notice that the employer has filed an H-1B visa application at the workplace

What is the process for obtaining an H-1B visa?

The U.S. employer seeking to hire a foreign employee is the sponsor. The sponsor must seek approval of a Labor Condition Application (LCA), also known as Form ETA-9035, from the U.S. Department of Labor through the iCert Portal, a system where employers and lawyers can check on case information. Once the LCA is approved, the employer then files a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, with the H classification.

The foreign worker is the “petitioner.” The attorney files a form G-28 to appear as counsel. The petitioner may request premium processing by filing a form I-907 (after filing Form I-129). The H-1B data collection and filing fee supplement must be completed and the fees must be paid.

Once the petition is filed, the USCIS must approve the employer’s H-1B petition. Unless they are already present in the United States, the foreign worker seeking the H-1B visa must then visit a U.S. embassy abroad.

An H-1B visa lasts for three years; however, it may be extended for up to a total of six years. There are even exceptions to allow more extended periods for certain professions under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act.

What are the limits for H-1B visas?

The U.S. cannot approve more than 65,000 new H-1B visas per year. An additional 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education are exempt from the cap. Similarly, H-1B university or higher education workers are also exempt from the H-1B cap, as are nonprofits and government research organizations.

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