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H-1B Visas
he H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant work visa category that companies can use to bring in specialty workers. Specialty workers are those workers whose positions require at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. Those positions which generally do not require a bachelor's degree or its equivalent will not qualify for the H-1B category. Also, the worker must possess a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in an area that is related to the work to be performed.
Once your company has identified a specialty worker and position eligible for H-1B status as described above, there are several steps that will need to be taken to obtain H-1B status for your foreign national employee. The first step is to prepare and file a Labor Condition Application ("LCA") with the U.S. Department of Labor. Please note that there are several things that your company will need to do before and after the filing of a LCA to remain compliant with all Department of Labor rules. The biggest requirement is that your company be paying the prevailing wage rate for the position being offered. If you have complied with all Department of Labor rules and your company is paying the prevailing wage rate, the U.S. Department of Labor will certify your LCA within 7 day after it was been submitted.
Once your labor condition application has been certified, you will need to file an H-1B petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS"). When you submit the H-1B petition to USCIS, you will need to include the certified LCA, appropriate filing fees, copies of the foreign employee's educational degrees, copies of the alien's U.S. immigration documents, and some company information. Our office will carefully review the facts of each case to see which fees your company will need to pay for each H-1B petition.
Please note that there are a limited number of H-1B petitions that are available each year. In some years competition for those H-1B numbers have been pretty fierce. If you are considering hiring an H-1B worker, we encourage you to contact our office as soon as possible so that we can help you secure an H-1B slot for your employee when it becomes available.