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The H-1B visa allows temporary employment for foreign nationals with an academic degree or equivalent and a corresponding US job offer. However, the H-1B work visa has many pitfalls and hurdles due to strict entry requirements and numerical limitations.

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What is the H-1B visa?

The H-1B category is a traditional work visa for the U.S., but is reserved exclusively for highly skilled workers. The H-1B visa is applied for by specialized professionals such as engineers, scientists and architects who wish to work in the U.S. for a limited period of time.

Bild von einer ausländischen Fachkraft mit H-1B Visum

Advantages and disadvantages of the H-1B visa

What are the advantages of the H-1B visa?

The H-1B skilled worker visa offers a number of benefits to both US companies and foreign workers.

  • Compared to E work visas and L work visas relatively low requirements are placed on the US company.
  • The requirements for the applicants are much lower, i.e. the employees to be hired do not have to hold a management position in the US company, for example.
  • The US company does not have to conduct a labor market check ("Labor Certification"); thus, does not have to prove that no US personnel could be found for the position to be awarded.

What are the disadvantages of the H-1B visa?

  • Labor Condition Application: The US employer must submit this online procedure to the U.S. Department of Labor the foreign person's future pay and working conditions in the United States. This is to ensure that there are no disadvantages to U.S. workers associated with the hiring of personnel from abroad. Specifically, this verifies future salary payments to the potential H-1B professionals, which must not be less than the so-called prevailing/actual wages of US workers with comparable duties/qualifications in the respective region.
  • The number of H-1B visas granted per year is limited (H-1B Cap). Unfortunately, in recent years there have regularly been significantly more H-1B applicants than the actual number of H-1B visas available. This results in sometimes months-long waiting periods for a potential job start. We therefore recommend checking whether another work visa can be applied for as an alternative.

What are the requirements for the H-1B visa?

The H-1B visa is company-bound, i.e. the official applicants are the US companies for the future employees. Therefore, an indispensable prerequisite is a concrete job offer in the United States from a U.S. employer. With the H-1B visa, the foreign person can only work for the US company that filed the application. Non-profit, governmental organizations or educational institutions (e.g., U.S. universities) may also act as petitioners.

The future H-1B position in the US for the foreign employees must be "H-1B capable," meaning it must correspond to a Specialty Occupation activity. By definition of the US authorities, this means occupational fields in the US that have at least one US Bachelor's Degreeor a corresponding equivalent in the field of work. This includes highly qualified employees in the following occupational fields, among others:

  • Lawyers
  • Engineers
  • Architects
  • Physicians

 

 

 

Thus, only those individuals who have at least a US bachelor's degree, or an academic degree earned outside the U.S. as an equivalent, qualify for an H-1B visa. Also, a combination of educational qualification and work experience that is considered equivalent to a US Bachelor's Degree recognized is conceivable and can be achieved by means of so-called Foreign Credential Evaluations respectively Work Experience Evaluations be demonstrated in the United States.

H-1B Cap

The H-1B visa category is limited in number and is subject to a quota system, known as the H-1B cap, which applies for one US tax year at a time. The US tax year or Fiscal Year, or FY, describes the period between October 1 of one year and September 30 of the following year.

A total of only 85,000 H-1B visas are available per fiscal year. While many well-known companies in the US, such as Microsoft and Google, have been advocating an expansion of the H-1B program for years, the US authorities and some US associations remain critical of this movement.

The number of H-1B visas is distributed among two H-1B quotas:

CAP TYPE CAP AMOUNT
H-1B Regular Cap 65,000
H-1B Master's Exemption 20,000

H-1B Regular Cap

Per US fiscal year, 65,000 H-1B visas can be obtained in the H-1B Regular Cap be issued to persons who have a US bachelor's degree or higher (earned at an American university) or its equivalent (earned abroad). Within this quota, however, 6,800 H-1B visas are still reserved for potential applicants from Singapore and Chile.

H-1B Master's Exemption Cap

In addition, an H-1B Master's Exemption Cap with an additional 20,000 visas per US fiscal year is available for individuals with a US master's degree or higher (earned at an American university).

Note: Not all master's degrees from US educational institutions automatically qualify for the H-1B master's cap. To the US universities resp. US Colleges two conditions are imposed:

  1. The school must have been properly accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency.
  2. It must be a public or nonprofit educational institution.

If either of these criteria is not met, the applicant does not qualify for the H-1B Master's Cap and the application would be denied. A thorough review in advance is mandatory, as the applicant could qualify for the regular H-1B cap (and thus would have to file the H-1B petition for the regular cap).

Current H-1B Cap Season

This year's H-1B cap round for the US fiscal year 2025 (FY 2025) will start on March 6, 2024 with the electronic registration introduced a few years ago. From this date up to and including March 22, 2024, potential H-1B employers can register on the USCIS online portal to participate in the subsequent lottery process.

US companies or organizations whose employees have been selected may file their petitions for H-1B visas for foreign employees within 90 days from April 1, 2024, i.e. by June 30, 2024 – with a start date of October 1, 2024 (= earliest possible start of work).

Prerequisite: The H-1B petition is based on a valid, randomly selected preregistration and is filed on behalf of the individual named in the corresponding selected registration (= beneficiary).

The popularity of the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers is unbroken. For many years now, the number of potential H-1B applicants has regularly exceeded the available H-1B quota. The USCIS therefore randomly selected those applicants who could be considered.

H-1B Registration and lottery procedure

Since fiscal year 2021, US companies wishing to obtain H-1B visas for foreign personnel must register online during a specified window in the spring. If the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services receive more potential H-1B requests during this period than are available per the H-1B quota, a lottery process takes place.

Only for these selected individuals can companies then file an H-1B petition with the USCIS in a 90-day window beginning April 1 of a given year for the earliest start date of October 1 of the same year.

Prior to the introduction of the H-1B registration process in 2020, several hundred thousand H-1B petitions were regularly received by the US immigration authority USCIS within a very short period of time from the former filing deadline of April 1. The USCIS then imposed an admission stop for the corresponding fiscal year and selected from the H-1B petitions received up to that date those that could be admitted for further processing. All other H-1B applications were returned unprocessed.

H-1B Cap Exempt - Exemption from the quota system

Not all H-1B petitions are affected by the quota system with the numerical limitation. The following H-1B petitions can always be filed with the US immigration authoritiy USCIS, i.e. they are cap exempt:

  • H-1B extension petitions, i.e., petitions for foreign nationals who are already in the US under H-1B status or have been in the US within the last six years
  • H-1B applications for foreign nationals who are already in the United States under H-1B status (or have been within the last six years) as part of a change of employer
  • H-1B applications from institutions of higher education and their branches under certain conditions (e.g. US universities)
  • H-1B applications from government-related or nonprofit research institutes
Bild von Anwält:innen in den USA

H-1B Visa Application

Responsible authorities

The H-1B visa application process is divided into what is generally a four-step process with different official responsibilities.

  1. (Credential & Work Experience) Evaluation
    If the prospective employee has an academic degree (bachelor's degree or higher) that was not earned at a US university, the equivalency to the foreign credential must be verified or confirmed through an evaluation process.
    Such procedures can be initiated (Foreign Credential Evaluations) via the common evaluation centers in the USA. It is mandatory that this be a USCIS-recognized evaluation site.
    If employees do not have an academic degree, but through training and many years of work experience have specialized knowledge that can be equated with a US university degree, a Work Experience Evaluation be initiated.
  2. U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) – Labor Condition Application (LCA)
    In a second step, the Labor Condition Application be initiated by the future US company. This request is made in an online procedure via the FLAG system (Foreign Labor Application Gateway) on the website of the U.S. Department of Labor.
    The LCA is not to be confused with the Labor Certification (= labor market review by the US company).
    Under the H-1B visa, the US employer does not have to prove that it could not find US workers for the advertised position. Under the Labor Condition Application the US company must confirm, among other things, that the foreign employees will be adequately paid and that their employment will not result in any disadvantages for US personnel. Incidentally, any violation of the requirements set out there can lead to severe fines in the event of a subsequent inspection by the US authorities.
  3. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – H-1B Petition
    Only after receipt of the approved LCA can the actual H-1B petition be filed: H-1B petitions will be filed at a USCIS lockbox in the United States beginning on February 28, 2024 (petitions not subject to the cap) or April 1, 2024 (petitions for the FY 2025 cap season). Alternatively, online filing will be possible for the first time.
    In addition to the extensive documentation on the US company, the position offered and the qualifications of the foreign employees, this petition must also include the approved Labor Condition Application from the U.S. Department of Labor.
    H-1B petitions are considered accepted after the U.S. Immigration Service has reviewed and confirmed that the application documents have been submitted completely and properly and that the application fee has been paid. The date of receipt is not the date of the postmark.
    H-1B applications subject to the H-1B cap can only be filed with USCIS beginning April 1 in a 90-day window if they have been officially drawn in the registration process.
  4. US consulate – consular procedure
    If the USCIS application is approved, the US company receives an approval notice. In the last step, the future employee must go through the consular process in which the actual H-1B visa is issued (exceptions are only status extension or change of status procedures within the United States). The application is usually made during a personal interview at the responsible US consulate in the home country.

H-1B I-129 Online Filing

The USCIS has announced the online filing of I-129 H-1B applications and H-1B I-907 Premium Processing.

Starting February 28, 2024, it will be possible to submit the I-129 form and the I-907 form for H-1B non-cap filings online.

On April 1, 2024, online filing of H-1B petitions and Premium Processing will begin for petitioners whose H-1B registrations have been selected.

This will allow the entire process to be completed online via a USCIS account. In this context, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is introducing so-called Organizational Accounts, i.e. corporate accounts, which enable the cooperation of several employees within an organization as well as authorized representatives (e.g. attorneys). These USCIS online accounts will already be set up and used for the H-1B registration process.

Postal filing will still be possible and will now be distributed to the USCIS lockboxes.

Application duration

The H-1B visa is a complex and time-consuming application process. The entire application process takes several months. The processing times are roughly divided as follows:

  • Conduct the Foreign Credential or Work Experience Evaluation with the appropriate evaluators in the US (approximately 1-4 weeks).
  • If the U.S. Department of Labor has no objections, the LCA will be approved within approximately 7 days of receipt.
  • Once the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially accepted an H-1B petition, average processing times to final determination depend on the service center responsible.
    Regular processing usually takes several months, but varies greatly. Alternatively, there is an accelerated procedure here (see next paragraph "Premium Processing").
  • In case the consulate procedure is still necessary and a personal visa appointment has to be completed, please allow about another two to four weeks until you receive your passport including visa.

Premium Processing" – Accelerated application process

Generally, all applications filed with USCIS using form I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker) – including H-1B visas – can be processed more quickly.

This is possible with form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing) and an additional fee of currently $2,500. The advantage of the Premium Processing procedure is that the USCIS guarantees applicants a response within 15 calendar days. The response usually includes an approval or an inquiry (Request For Evidence, RFE) or rejection.

Note: Due to the large volume of applications, the Premium Processing procedure may be suspended for a certain period of time during Cap Season, which may extend processing times by several months. However, this varies from year to year.

How much does a visa for the USA cost?

How high the costs for US visas are depends on which visa is applied for. Generally speaking, the more application steps are required and the more US authorities are involved, the more expensive the visa application will be. The application fees for US visas can therefore vary greatly.

Anyone applying for a visa for the USA at a US consulate or embassy must pay the following fees:

  • Consular application fee
    General application fee that must be paid by all applicants. The amount varies depending on the visa category.
  • Additional consular fees, if applicable
    There are additional fees that only apply to some visa categories or are only relevant for certain applicants.
  • Costs for passport delivery, if applicable
    The postal delivery of passports is subject to a fee, passport collection is free of charge.
Bild von einer USA Kreditkarte für Visa-Gebühren

Additional costs are incurred for application procedures via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), such as applications for US work visas.

  • USCIS standard fee
    General application fee that must be paid by all applicants. The amount varies depending on the visa category.
  • Additional USCIS fees, if applicable
    Accelerated application processing, for example, is subject to a fee.

You can find more information about the different visa fees, other possible costs and the current payment methods on our fees page.

Go to the cost overview

How long is the H-1B visa valid?

The H-1B visa is granted for a maximum of three years in the initial application and can be extended for another three years. The maximum duration of stay of six years may be exceeded only if a timely job-related Green Card has been applied for on the part of the US company (= AC-21 rule).

Visa for family members

Spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 are eligible for a derivative H-4 visa upon application for the same period as the principal applicant.

Special features:

  • If the children reach the U.S. age of majority (21), they must change their nonimmigrant status or leave the country.
  • Spouses and children can attend private and public educational institutions with the H-4 visa.
  • Spouses cannot obtain their own Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with the H-4 visa. Therefore, taking up work is generally not permitted, not even for children.
    It is possible to apply for an EAD in exceptional cases if the spouses (with H-1B status) are already in ongoing immigration status adjustment proceedings (Green Card Procedure).

Alternatives to the H-1B visa

There is no blanket solution for individuals whose H-1B petition could not be considered by USCIS.

Whether, and if so, which other US work visa category could serve as a "substitute" must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

For example, in some cases, applying for an L-1 visa or O-1 visa may be considered.

We will be happy to advise you on possible alternatives.

H-1B Statistics

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) publishes annual statistics with background information on H-1B petitions received and processed and publishes the top US states, fields of activity and largest US employers for H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Temporary Specialty Occupations programs.

  1. Top 10 fields of activity
    Occupations in the IT sector also occupied the top positions in FY 2024 with more than 50% - with a focus on software developers.
  2. US states
    For several years, most H-1B visas have been applied for in California, followed by Texas and Washington.
  3. US companies
    Amazon.com Services LLC topped the list of the top 10 H-1B companies in Fiscal Year 2024. It was followed by NVIDIA Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc, Goldman Sachs & Co, LLC and Infosys Limited.

You can find the complete statistics on the Website of the U.S. Department of Labor.

We advise you comprehensively on your visa options for the USA Get in touch with our experts now!
The most frequently asked questions about the H-1B visa

The fees for applying for a visa vary considerably depending on the category and may regularly increase or decrease, also as a result of exchange rate fluctuations. Therefore, every applicant should inform himself about the current fees before applying.

The application for a U.S. visa must be made through the official U.S. authorities, e.g. the U.S. consulates and U.S. embassies. The actual visa application is placed online, but almost every applicant must go to the consulate in person for a visa interview. With some work visas, it is sometimes necessary to send extensive files by mail to the U.S. authorities in the USA prior to the consular application procedure.
We advise and support companies and private individuals in all matters relating to visa applications. Read more about the requirements, duration and costs of a visa application

A U.S. work visa is always tied to a specific U.S. company. In turn this means that you must have a specific employer in the United States before you can apply for a work visa.

The application process begins with the U.S. company that wants to hire you. The U.S. employer submits the petition either to the USCIS or to the responsible U.S. consulate. Since the application for a temporary work permit is made by the company for a future foreign employee, the U.S. employer is therefore the so-called petitioner, which means the official applicant. The future employee is the entitled person and thus the so-called beneficiary.

Many companies wonder what happens to the company-bound work visa when the visa holder no longer works for the U.S. employer.

In the event that the employment contract is terminated, the U.S. work visa automatically loses its validity. The derived visas of any family members who may have travelled with the employee also lose their validity upon termination of the work relations, as these are linked to the visa of the main visa applicant.

This means that the former visa holder is no longer allowed to enter the country with the work visa after termination of the employment relationship. Even if the work visa is theoretically still valid for a certain period of time, the visa may no longer be used to enter the United States. If the visa holder concerned wishes to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business purposes in the future, he / she must reapply for an ESTA or a corresponding visa, depending on the type of activities carried out on site and the duration of such activities.

Tip: In order to avoid discrepancies or problems with later entries, it is advisable to inform the U.S. consulate about the new work situation. For this purpose, it is sufficient if the responsible company representative (e.g. HR manager, supervisor, board of directors) sends an e-mail to the responsible consulate with the request to invalidate the visa of the former employee. If possible, a copy of the visa should also be attached. The consulate will then put a note in the system so that the CBP officers at the U.S. border are also informed.
In some cases, the visa holder will even be contacted directly by the U.S. consulate in order to send its passport with the work visa for the purpose of invalidation. In other cases, the visa will simply be invalidated by the CBP officer at the boder the next time he or she enters the United States.

Our recommendation: By sending a short message to the responsible U.S. consulate, companies can protect themselves and above all be sure that entry with the previously valid work visa is no longer possible. Do not take any risks and prevent possible abuse with company-bound visas.

Depending on the visa type, the application is made through the U.S. consulates in the home country or additionally through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In Germany, for example, you can apply at the U.S. Consulate in Berlin, Frankfurt/Main or Munich.

IMPORTANT: Since 2001, all applicants between the ages of 14 and 79 have been required to appear in person without exception. This means that all visa applicants of this age must submit their application at a personal interview at the U.S. consulate. No documents are submitted in advance by mail (exception: age groups under 14 and over 79, here the application is submitted by mail). Another exception at present is theVisa Reissuance Program.

All applicants of a Nonimmigrant visa must be in addition to the Online application DS-160a visa profile on the website of the Visa Information Servicecreate for the purpose of making an appointment and paying the visa processing fee.

In the first step you make the payment of the visa fee (please note that the application fee is not refundable if your visa is rejected). The fee can be paid by online bank transfer, SOFORT transfer (electronic funds transfer), debit card or cash at a bank. Usually you will receive an email notification that the payment has been received and your account has been activated so that the appointment can be made.

The interview appointment must be made either online via the visa profile or by calling the U.S. consulate call center at +49 (0)322 2109 3243. If you make the appointment online via your Visa Profile, you will have the opportunity to view the available appointments at the U.S. consulates in Berlin, Frankfurt/Main and Munich in a calendar. You will then receive an "Appointment Confirmation", i.e. an appointment confirmation including proof of payment of the visa application fee. Appointment postponements or cancellations are possible. However, if you postpone your appointment more than twice, you will have to go through the whole process from the beginning and pay the visa fee again. On our website you can find the current visa fees.

Depending on the type of visa, a certain application fee is charged per applicant, which is not refundable even if the visa is rejected.

Please make every effort to schedule an appointment in a timely manner. U.S. officials cannot and will not make allowances for individual travel plans.

Basically, in addition to the common DS-160 application form, applicants must have and the "Appointment Confirmation" you have to submit further documents. What these are also depends on the visa applied for.

Please note that your passport will be retained at the U.S. Consulate on the day of the interview and will be delivered by registered mail to a German address after a processing time of approximately one to two weeks. A personal pickup of the visa or an issuance on the same day are not possible!

Spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 will be issued a derived J-2 visa for the same period as the principal applicant and may travel to the United States on that visa.

Only those individuals who can demonstrate that they meet at least one of the following requirements will qualify for an H-1B visa:

  1. A Bachelor's Degree or higher earned at an American educational institution (US University, etc.).

  2. An academic degree earned outside the U.S. that has been evaluated by an Evaluation Service as equivalent to a U.S. bachelor's degree or higher.

  3. A U.S. authorization (e.g., U.S. license) that entitles the foreign employee to full employment in the United States.

  4. A combination of high school education and vocational training and/or several years of work experience that is recognized as equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor's Degree. The method used to demonstrate this equivalency is called a Work Experience Evaluation.

One of the most common methods of demonstrating credential equivalency is called an evaluation or "degree equivalency" process. There are various providers in the United States that conduct so-called "work or credential evaluations", e.g.:

World Education Services, Trustforte, Josef Silny & Associates, Inc., Park Evaluations, Morningside Evaluations, Evaluation Services, Inc., Education Evaluators International, Foundation for International Services, Inc. and Education Credential Evaluators.

Yes. Because the H-1B visa can only be applied for with the involvement of the US company, a US job offer is mandatory. For the rest US work visas generally cannot be applied for without a specific job offer. In addition, the application may normally only be filed by the US employer ("Petitioner") and not by the foreign worker ("Beneficiary").

The foreign employee's future H-1B position in the U.S. must be "H-1B capable" - meaning it must correspond to a "Specialty Occupations" activity.

U.S. immigration law recognizes a position as a "specialty occupation" if it meets one of the following four criteria:

  1. Access to the position typically requires a bachelor's degree or higher (or the equivalent).
  2. Requiring a bachelor's degree or higher is common in similar jobs and companies, or the position is so complex or unique that a person with a degree alone can perform the work.
  3. The employer typically requires an employee with a degree or the equivalent to fill the position.
  4. The duties associated with the position offered in the U.S. are so complex and specialized that the knowledge required to perform the job is usually acquired through an academic degree (bachelor's degree or higher, or the equivalent).

Consequently, the minimum requirement for an "H-1B eligible" job offer in the U.S. is that the position usually requires a U.S. Bachelor's degree or its equivalent in the relevant field of work. This applies to the following professions, for example: Architects, Engineers, Medical Professionals, Lawyers, etc. But as the above four criteria make clear, occupations that are not traditional "Specialty Occupation" occupations can also be "H-1B capable."

The H-1B category is limited in number and subject to a certain quota system ("H-1B Cap"), which applies for one U.S. fiscal year (FY) at a time. The U.S. fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the following year.

Petitions for extensions or modifications of H-1B visas already issued in prior years may generally be filed at any time and are not subject to numerical quotas.

Regular Cap

There are currently 65,000 H-1B visas available per U.S. tax year ("Regular Cap") with 6,800 H-1B visas already reserved for Singaporean and Chilean nationals due to free trade agreements. If more than 65,000 petitions are filed (which is the case almost every fiscal year) a lottery is held to select 65,000 from the total petitions filed.

Master's Cap

For individuals who have earned a U.S. Master's Degree from a U.S. university, 20,000 additional visas are available ("Master's Cap"). Comparable degrees earned abroad do not apply. If more than 20,000 Master's Degree H-1B Petition are filed, a lottery will be held to select 20,000 from the total petition submitted. The Master's Cap Petition that are not selected in the Master's Cap Lottery will then be treated as a "Regular Cap" Petition and thus may be selected in any Regular Cap Lottery.

Application only in April

H-1B initial applications may be filed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 1 for the earliest possible work start date of October 1. If the quota is exhausted or the H-1B initial application is not selected in the lottery, an H-1B initial application cannot be made again until the following tax year.

An increase to the 195,000 visas once awarded in the age of the IT industry boom has been discussed time and again (especially due to pressure from large corporations such as Microsoft and Google), but unfortunately has not yet been implemented.

If the quota for the current U.S. tax year is exhausted, it will be necessary to switch to other categories (such as. E-1/E-2, or L-Visa), naturally subject to verification of the respective access requirements.

Not all H-1B applications are affected by the quota. For example, petitions may always be filed by Institutions of Higher Education (e.g., U.S. universities) and certain nonprofit or government research institutes. Also, H-1B holders who change U.S. employers or renew their H-1B status are not subject to the quota under certain circumstances.

Individuals who are already in the U.S. may be able to make what is known as a change of status to the H-1B category, provided, however, that the individual has been not entered the country without a visa, has a valid residence status, and has not violated U.S. immigration laws. In addition, persons with certain statuses may not apply for a change of status at all or may only do so as an exception. Therefore, it is especially important to seek professional advice before applying for a change of status.

ImportantOne must clearly distinguish between a change of status and obtaining a visa. A successful change of status only means that one has a valid domestic residence status. But a change of status is not a visa!If you leave the United States and re-enter without a valid visa, you will be denied entry.

Background: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only approves the change of status to H-1B and does not issue a U.S. visa. Only the U.S. consulates abroad are responsible for issuing U.S. visas.If you want to leave and re-enter the country after a change of status, you need a valid H-1B visa. As a rule, you have to apply for this visa at the US consulate in your home country. However, it is also possible to apply for a US visa in Mexico or Canada at the US consulates there.

Due to the quota system, initial petitions for H-1B visas cannot be filed at any time (except for Initial applications that are not subject to the quota).

The application may be submitted in any year no earlier than April 1 (i.e., six months prior to the beginning of the tax year) for the earliest possible work start date of October 1.

If the quota is exhausted, an application can only be made again for the following tax year.

In previous years, the quota was unfortunately often exhausted within just a few days. New applications, which are affected by the quota, can only be submitted again from April 1 of the next year for the earliest possible start of work October 1 of the same year.

Quite often this means for the foreign applicant the elimination for the offered position. Alternatively, one could consider applying for an E-1, E-2 or L visa.

H-1B visas may be applied for in the initial application for a maximum of 3 years. An additional three-year extension is possible, but a total stay of 6 years may generally not be exceeded.There is generally no "cap" for the three-year extension after the initial grant period.

After 6 years in H-1B status, one must spend a full year outside the U.S. before being eligible for H-1B status again. However, in the case of a new application, the following also applies again the H-1B quotation.

Otherwise, concurrent with staying in H-1B status, one can obtain a job-relatedGreenCardby a U.S. employer. Should this application have been filed in a timely manner (at least 365 days prior to the expiration of H-1B status), the legal residence is extended by the period until the receipt of the written acceptance or rejection of the green card application.

Accompanying spouses and unmarried children up to age 21 will be granted derivative status upon application, and thus an H-4 visa. However, with this visa, spouses are permitted tonotAllowed to work, i.e. the acquisition of a General Work Permit (Employment Authorization Document, EAD) in the USAis excluded(in contrast to other categories such asL-1orE-1/E-2).

Children of H-1B holders may, of course.Attend educational institutions (schools/universities), but may not engage in paid work.

Important exception: Exceptionally, H-4 spouses may apply for work authorization if:

  1. An employment-based immigrant visa petition has been approved for the H-1B holder; or
  2. The H-1B holder has taken advantage of the special statutory provision that allows extension of H-1B status beyond the standard six-year period.

As a rule, applicants find out on the day of their interview whether the visa will be granted or not.
In certain cases, the visa applicant receives a letter of refusal from the consulate after a certain processing time. Incidentally, no reasons need to be given for a refusal. The reasons for this can be manifold and range - depending on the visa category - from the assumption of an immigration intention, to the presumption of illegal employment, to insufficient application documentation.
Once this has happened, a new visa can usually only be (successfully) applied for after several months or even years. Theoretically, there is no waiting period for the applicant until the next submission. However, experience shows that without a blatant improvement in the requirements of the respective visa category (e.g. proof of the intention to return to the home country, financial means, proof of specialized professional knowledge, etc.), a new application does not appear to make much sense.

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