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.