US H1B Employment Visa Services and Information
Gainesville, Florida Immigration Attorney Richard Ruth offers US H1B Employment Visa Services to clients through out the United States and world. For a consultation fee of $40 per 20 minutes, I can answer your specific US H1B work visa questions. For international clients, I can offer consults and services via e-mail, video conferencing or telephonically. For clients close to Gainesville Florida in person consultations are another option.
What is an H1B Visa for Employment?
One of the most common non-immigrant “work” visas for foreign professionals is the H1B visa. This visa is not available for all workers (such as for unskilled labor, or non-professional skilled workers). Strict criteria must be satisfied to be eligible for an H1B visas. Moreover, there are limited numbers of H1B visas available each year, so “cap” issues are common. In recent years, the USCIS has had to resort to a “lottery” system to select H1B petitions eligible for processing, since applications have exceeded available visa numbers.
An employer files an H1B Petition for an intended beneficiary worker. In order to qualify for an H1B visa, the proposed beneficiary employee must be intended to perform work in a “specialty occupation”, which in simplified terms, usually is a position which requires a Bachelor’s Degree or higher, and is in a specific field of specialized endeavor, such as marketing, engineering, physics, chemistry, math, education, accounting, or the like. A beneficiary must usually possess a college degree in the area of intended employment, or sufficient work experience for each year of college not completed. The position itself must require such a degree, as a routine industry requirement. Not all professional positions are specialty occupations for purposes of H1B sponsorship. Generic office management positions are an example of a type of position the USCIS usually finds as NOT being a specialty occupation. You also must have an employer sponsor you for the visa in that specialty occupation, and the employer must agree, as specified in a Labor Condition Application filed and certified by the Department of Labor, that it will agree to pay you a specified salary that exceeds the “prevailing wage” for that position in the geographic job market where you will be employed (which is usually determined and fixed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a published wage survey). Also, as a matter of regulation and policy, the employer is usually mandated to pay all attorneys fees and costs for the process.
Common H1B Visa Issues
The most common H1B issues that arise are whether or not a position qualifies as a specialty occupation, whether the intended beneficiary is qualified for H1B status, and whether cap problems are present. Often times, we assist employers with crafting the job description in such a way so as to highlight the specialty occupation nature of the position (though note we cannot “fudge” a job description to cater specifically to a beneficiary). We also can help an employer and beneficiary recognize and cope with cap issues under the H1B visa program. We can also assist beneficiaries in determining their eligibility for H1B employment. In short, we have found that nearly all employers benefit from attorney representation when attempting to secure an H1B visa for a potential hire, because of the complexities of the process. And we have found that beneficiaries can often benefit from a consultation regarding H1B employment hopes so that they can plan OPT considerations and employment options accordingly.
To set up an initial consultation to discuss any questions you have about your H1B visa questions or intentions or our US H1B Employment visa services, please e-mail us today and attorney Richard Ruth will be happy to speak with you!