It’s H-1B Cap Season again!
United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting applications for this popular employment-based visa starting April 1st. The demand for H-1B visas continues to increase, and we expect the numerical cap of 65,000 new visas (plus 20,000 for advanced degree holders) to be met very quickly this year. (Last year the cap was met on April 5th!)
Here are our top three tips to make sure your company is prepared.
1. Start Early
The most important piece of advice we can give you is to start early. Allowing adequate time to prepare an H-1B petition gives the best possible chance for approval and avoids last-minute stress. If you haven’t begun the process of preparing an H-1B petition for April 1st, we strongly suggest you start now.
Each H-1B petition needs a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA). LCA certification is an online process with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and can take up to 7 days. (Potentially longer if the DOL is backed up.) In addition, if an employee’s degree is from a school outside of the U.S., a professional Education Evaluation may be needed in order to prove degree equivalency. Any non-English document should be translated into English. It sometimes takes foreign nationals longer than expected to gather the documentation needed to apply for an H-1B.
If H-1B petitions are prepared early, it leaves plenty of time to obtain needed documents.
2. Evaluate Your Company’s H-1B needs
Many employees who get new H-1B visas are recent graduates working under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program on EAD cards. It’s important to know when your employees’ EAD cards expire and when their OPT will end. Since H-1B petitions accepted in April are only valid on or after October 1st of that year, advance planning is required.
In addition, there may be other H-1B candidates to consider—new employees recruited from abroad, existing employees currently holding other visa types, even current students on F-1 visas who will be graduating soon. For information about H-1B visa eligibility for a particular employee or job candidate, contact your immigration services provider.
3. Know Your Alternatives
If some of your company’s H-1B petitions are not selected by USCIS under this year’s cap, you should know your alternatives. There may be another visa type that the employee is eligible for or another way they can work for you.
If the employee is Canadian, a TN visa may be possible. An Australian could obtain an E-3 visa. A dependent of another visa holder might be able to get an EAD card. Consult your immigration services provider for an evaluation of each individual situation.
VISANOW’s web application makes the H-1B preparation process much easier and faster than working with a traditional attorney. That being said, our most-successful clients begin their H-1B preparation early. If your company needs any kind of visa or immigration assistance or is interested in trying out VISANOW for a case, please contact us at 1-855-VISANOW. We would be happy to help!
