Staying Informed on the New H-1B Immigration Cap Registration System
Immigration law is complicated. No one knows this better than Elliot M.S Yi and his team of immigration attorneys at Immigration Law Group. When you’re applying for a work visa, it can seem as though the rules are constantly changing, and they only get more complicated if you want to bring your family with you. No matter how much education or skill you bring to your job, navigating the complicated world of immigration law is no easy task.
Whether you’re looking to apply for an H-1B visa on your own or you’re an employer here in the state of Oregon looking to petition for qualified workers to achieve legal status, Immigration Law Group can help make your American Dream a reality.
What is an H-1B Visa and So I Qualify for One?
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa which allows foreign workers to apply to come work in the United States for up to three years but may be extended to six years in specialty occupations. In order to qualify for an H-1B visa an applicant must meet the following criteria.
- Education – In order to qualify for an H-1B visa an applicant must have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, or an equivalent degree.
- Degree Requirement – The degree requirement within the industry for the job must be so unique, or the job so complex, that only someone holding the degree could perform the job duties and responsibilities.
- Employer Requirement – The Employer must normally require someone with that degree or its equivalent for the position.
- Specific Duties – The nature of the specific duties of job are so specific that it usually requires educational training associated with your degree.
Although an H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa it is often used as a stepping stone towards citizenship and is recognized as a dual intent visa. Many immigrants who possess an H-1B visa apply and obtain a Green Card while working in the United States and the H-1B visa also allows for an applicant to apply to bring their spouse and children under the age of 21 with them
What is the New Cap Registration System for H-1B Visas?
As of March 1, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that there will be a new cap registration system for H-1B visas. The new cap system for H-1B immigration allows for a total of 85,000 new H-1B visas each fiscal year, 65,000 of those being new visas for immigrants with a bachelor’s degree while 20,000 will be available for specialty workers with advanced degrees but requires employers to register in advance if they wish to petition for an immigrant through the system.
Under the new system, registration will open for petitions from employers on March 1st and close on March 20th with employers being notified by March 31st if the potential employee they registered was selected, giving the employer 90 days to file their petition. There will be a 10$ registration fee for each applicant a company wishes to register however there is no limit to the number of registrations a US employer may submit.
How Does This Impact Current and Potential Immigrants?
One of the fears of this new system is that larger companies will not be limited by the 10$ registration fee and will therefore submit numerous registrations, drowning out smaller companies and making the elusive H-1B visa even harder to come by, increasing the lottery feel of the system for anyone without a large corporation behind them.
It is also unclear as of this time what will happen to applicants petitioning for a “Master’s Exemption” who do not meet the full requirements at the March deadline but will by the time the H-1B visa is processed.
Why Call Immigration Law Group?
As an employer, you want the best people to work for your company and sometimes those people are located outside of the United States. Petitioning the government to bring over a worker shouldn’t be this much of a headache. Immigration law is complicated and ever changing, it can be hard to keep up.
Call Immigration Law Group today and help make a murky and confusing process simpler for you and your future employees. Let us help make the American Dream a reachable goal for everyone.
To learn more about immigration services in Portland Oregon, contact out offices located on 650 NE Holladay St, Suite 1600 Portland, OR 97232. Message us online or call (866) 691-9894
