Due to the fact more and more people arrive to the U.S. trying to find new opportunities, job, or get married, the quantity of approvals has to be limited. Especially is concerns work visas, as many employers invite foreign workers from all over the world, and if one arrives to work in the U.S., it is necessary to always follow new policies. In their turn, employers should know terms for the documents to be applied, rules, and many other things to do everything right and legal.
The H-1B visa program gives US-based companies opportunity to hire foreign workers for a certain period in some fields like science, IT and technology.
This program also has the number of foreign workers to be accepted, this number is limited by the government. For the H-1B visa, the annual cap is 65,000 approvals as set by the US Congress. Another 20,000 work stations are allotted for foreign citizens with US Master’s degree or higher. USCIS is the authority to track the number of applicants and notify the public when there are no free places left.
This year, premium processing for this visa falls on the beginning April 3 until the start of the fiscal year on October 1. It means, the Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing Service) for a Form I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker) filled by petitioners will be not accepted. However, the temporary delay of this track applying service does not apply to other eligible nonimmigrant classifications filed on Form I-129.
The government reminds, that both employers and workers should be attentive about changes in policies. It should be noticed, that the filing charge for Form I-129 has increased to $460, and petitioners have only 2 weeks to pay extra. In case if fee payments are not honored by the bank, USCIS will reject the whole H-1B petition, and petitioners will have no right to apply for one more try.
