Filing Period for H1-B visa coming up

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The time is quickly approaching for the opportunity to obtain an H-1B Visa. Applications from employers will start being accepted on April 1, 2008 for the 65,000 visas available. Of those 65,000 visas 6,800 are set aside especially for Chile and Singapore nationals. The visas go to foreigners who are highly educated meaning they have at least a Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent. They are professionals with specialties or unique skills. Individuals with an H-1B Visa may be allowed to remain in the United States for a maximum of six years. The visas are highly coveted and last year the visa quota was filled in one day. By the second day that H-1B applications were being accepted the USCIS had received nearly 150,000 applications. To make it fair to employers the government resorted to random selection. Applications filed after April 3, 2007 for fiscal year 2008 were not taken into consideration since the deadline was April 2, 2007. These applications along with those that were not selected were later returned to employers. If an employer is not able to obtain an H-1B Visa they may want to consider planning for next year’s H-1B Visas. Better yet employers should be looking into other ways that they can bring professionals to the United States. Other alternatives for U.S. employers include: the Treaty-Trader/Treaty-Investor visa (E-1/E-2), TN Visa, the J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa, the O visa and the L-1 Intracompany Work Visa. Currently it seems highly unlikely that the number of H1-B visas will be increased.

Source: US immigration newsletter