“We experienced a significant reduction in the administrative burden and the
elimination of many typical communication hold-ups associated with the traditional
model of providing immigration services.”
Corporate Counsel
Tokyo Electron
The H-1B (Exempt) visa is used for workers in specialty occupations
i.e. professional occupations, as defined below, who are not subject to the U.S.
government’s numerical cap on H-1B workers. This includes employees of higher education
institutions and non-profit and government research organizations.
What are the Requirements for Filing an H-1B (Exempt) Visa Petition?
How Long is the H-1B Visa
Valid?
What is the H-1B Cap and
How Does it Affect my H-1B (Exempt) Petition?
VISANOW can prepare and submit the H-1B visa petition if the
H-1B Beneficiary is presently in the U.S. in valid status or if the Beneficiary
is outside the U.S.
An H-1B specialty occupation must meet the following three requirements:
- Require theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge;
- Require attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree or its equivalent in the specific
specialty; and,
- Any one, or more, of the following:
- A bachelor's degree or its equivalent is normally the minimum entry requirement
for the position;
- The degree requirement is common to the industry or, the position is so complex
or unique that the work only can be performed by an individual with a degree;
- The employer normally requires a degree or its equivalent for the position; or,
- The nature of the specific duties is so specialized and complex that the knowledge
required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a bachelor
or higher degree.
An H-1B Beneficiary must either have a Bachelor’s degree or higher in the specialty
field or its equivalent in work experience (3 years of work experience is equal
to 1 year of education). Additionally, the Beneficiary must have a state license
to practice in the occupation if such is required.
In order to qualify for an exemption from the H-1B cap, the employee must either:
- Work for an institution of higher education;
- Work for a non-profit research organization;
- Work for a government research organization;
- Work for a primary or secondary education institution;
- Work for a non-profit entity that engages in an established curriculum-related clinical
training;
- Be filing for the SECOND extension with the SAME employer;
- Be filing to request an amendment to a petition without a request for an extension;
or
- Be filing in order to correct a service error.
Be filing in order to correct a service error.
An H-1B Beneficiary is initially admitted to the U.S. for
up to three years. This 3 year period may be extended for an additional three years
for up to a total of 6 years. Please note that this 6 year limit on H-1B status
can be extended if the Beneficiary has progressed to a certain stage of the green
card process.
VISANOW can also prepare the H-1B extension on behalf of the petitioning employer
and the foreign national Beneficiary.
The current annual cap on the H-1B category is 65,000. There
are an additional 20,000 H-1B visas available for individual with Master’s degrees,
or higher, from U.S. academic institutions.
H-1B (exempt) visa petitions are not subject to the annual cap. It is important
to note that when an H-1B visa holder is transferring from cap exempt employment
(i.e. working for a non-profit research organization) to non-cap exempt employment,
that visa petition will be subject to the cap.