01.11.16
Timing is everything. Congress sets a limit on the number of H-1B visas available each year. While the H-1B numbers for the next fiscal year do not become available until October 1, 2016, employers may file petitions to request numbers as early as six months in advance, i.e., April 1, 2016. As a result, we are writing to encourage employers to review their hiring needs and determine whether they should initiate H-1B processing for anticipated hires, or even recent hires in other nonimmigrant status now. This past fiscal year, we ran out of H-1B numbers within the first five days of filing! We anticipate that the numbers will run out in early April again this year. (Please note that the H-1B process consists of two steps: (1) filing the Labor Condition Application with the U.S. Department of Labor which takes at least 10 days to process and (2) filing the actual H-1B petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. For this reason, employers will need to contact us no later than February 1, 2016 to ensure sufficient time to process the H-1B petition for timely filing.) Every time an employer hires an individual for a specialty occupation an H-1B number must be available. (An exception arises where the individual is already with another employer in H-1B status, but this employer cannot be a university/college or a non-profit government research organization.) When numbers run out, the employer has to wait until the next fiscal year to file for an H-1B. In some cases there may be no other nonimmigrant visa option for the individual and the individual may have to leave the U.S. or, at least, not be able to work for the employer until a year later. You should consider filing an H-1B this April if the following applies:
- You are looking to hire an individual who is not in H-1B status already
- You are hiring an individual who is already in H-1B status, but is currently employed with a college/university (this situation requires a new H-1B number)
- You are hiring an individual who is already in H-1B status, but is with a non-profit government research organization (this situation requires a new H-1B number)
- Your employee is in F-1 Student Status
- Your employee is in L-1B Status and is considering seeking legal permanent residency in the United States
- Your employee is in another nonimmigrant status and may want to seek legal permanent residency in the United States