Does your business employ any specialists that require your sponsorship to stay within the country? If so, they might need to renew their H-1B visas on April 1st, 2017, the first day the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) accepts petitions for the 2018 fiscal year. Miss the final deadline or wait too long, and a specialist employee might not be eligible for employment in the country any longer. It is best to start cataloguing and speaking to your specialists, or start considering if you need to hire more specialists, sooner than later.
H-1B VISA PETITION LIMITATIONS
If you are wondering why you need to start considering your H-1B visa specialist employees now, you should know that the USCIS only grants a limited number of these visas each fiscal year. The current quota is locked at 65,000 for specialists and another 20,000 for specialists who have graduated from a highly advanced U.S. degree program. Once that 85,000 total quota is met, no more H-1B visas will be granted, no matter how qualified a petitioner may be.
If the quota is met – and it likely will be – the petitions will be chosen at random from a computer-generated lottery system. It is crucial to try to file as soon as possible in the off-chance that the quote is not met. This may allow your petition to be sorted and approved upfront.
Current economic trends indicate that the demand for specialists within all fields of professional occupation will be in a higher demand for the fiscal year of 2018 than any previous year. Some research organizations predict that roughly half of all H-1B visas will not be accepted if the lottery system is used. Collecting all necessary paperwork now and preparing petitions well in advance could help employers and employees alike avoid serious frustrations with the USCIS system.
For more information regarding H-1B employment visas and other immigration laws, you can contact USILaw. Our immigration lawyers in Montgomery County are equipped to handle any concern or complication you encounter.
