The H-1B employment visa is used by US businesses to employ foreign nationals in specialty occupations. Typically these occupations require the attainment of a US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent to enter the profession. Examples of such occupations include computer engineers, scientists, licensed elementary or high school teachers, professors among others.
Each fiscal year which begins October 1, 65,000 H-1b visas become available for those possessing bachelors degrees or the equivalent. Additionally, 20,000 H-1b visas are set aside for applicants with US Master’s degrees or higher. These two allocations constitute the cap or limit on available H-1B visas available each fiscal year. Certain H-1B visas are issued outside these caps and these include visas for certain employees of institutes of higher education and non-profits. For this latter group, there is no limit on the number of H-1B visas which can be issued in a given fiscal year.
USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions on April 1, 2014, which is 6 months prior to the October 1, 2014 beginning date for the 2015 fiscal year. Applicants are urged to file at the earliest possible date so the applications arrive on or after April 1, 2014, as the allocation of H-1B visas will probably be exhausted within the first two weeks of April. USCIS
has cautioned petitioners to make sure the H-1B petition is properly filed at the correct USCISservice center governed by the location of proposed employment. Filing instructions must be closely filed. Those that are rejected for whatever reason will not retain a filing date and will not be counted toward the cap.
Each H-1B petition must be accompanied by the proper filing fee which depends on the type of H-1B petition submitted. Applicants need to review the filing fee instructions to the form I-129 very carefully. (*)Submission of the incorrect filing fee is one of the most common reasons for petition rejection.
USCIS recommends a specific order for the H-1B petition submission. Please refer to the March 25, 2014 USCIS H-1B Fiscal Year 2015 Cap Season public release (see above). While this is not a binding requirement, applicants are advised to follow these recommendations for the benefit of USCIS and the filing public.
Applicants should also pay close attention to signing the forms in appropriate place(s). An H-1B petition may require over 10 signatures and missing even one signature can be reason for rejection of the petition.
Additionally, make sure to use an overnight service. Don’t rely on US priority mail to get your HJ-1B packet delivered on April 1.
Lastly, don’t submit multiple applications thinking one of the submissions will be selected for the cap. This is reason enough for USCIS to deny or revoke multiple or duplicative petitions.
