For many international students in the U.S on an F-1 visa, a major goal is to secure an employer for H-1B visa sponsorship. In order to change nonimmigrant visa status from an F-1 to an H-1B, the student can elect to try and go directly to H-1B status or go from F-1 OPT...

USCIS has launched an H-1B Employer Data Hub to provide information to the public on employers petitioning for H-1B workers. The data hub is part of USCIS continued effort to increase transparency in employment-based visa programs by allowing the public to search for H-1B petitioners by fiscal year (back to FY 2009), NAICS code,...

USCIS recently released the official meeting minutes from its “National Public Engagement on H-1B Filing Tips and understanding RFEs” held on March 7th, 2019.  During this engagement USCIS discussed some key issues that are frequently included in H-1B petitions RFEs. Issues such as,

If you are an immigrant who has come to the United States to go to school, and you wish to pursue higher academics and a career in academia, you might be wondering about your visa options. One of your best options is an H-1B Visa for Academics. There are, however, specific requirements that must...

On April 10, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated regular cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption for fiscal year (FY) 2020. After completing the random selection process for the regular cap, USCIS also determined that it has received a number of petitions projected...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today (3/19/2019) announced the start of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap season, start dates for premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions, and the launch of its new H-1B data hub, while reminding petitioners of its new H-1B cap selection process. These new efforts underscore the agency’s...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted today for public inspection, a final rule amending regulations governing H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption. The final rule reverses the order by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects H-1B petitions under the...

The H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant work visa that allows an international worker in a specialty occupation to come to the U.S. and to go on the payroll of a U.S. corporation. A specialty occupation is one that requires a Bachelor's Degree or its U.S. equivalent in a specialty occupation in the sciences,...

On November 30th, 2018, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period. Under the proposed rule, USCIS would also reverse the order by...

Some visas, such as the H-1B, may require the employer pay for the attorney fees and filing fees, and some immigrant visas may require the employer to pay for all costs such as in the case of a PERM labor certification. There are a number of fees that foreign nationals may incur while...