H-1B Visas, Transfers & Extensions
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant employment visa available to skilled professionals, technical staff, and management staff. The H-1B visa is available to doctors, nurses, high-tech staff, scientists, software designers and many other types of professionals.
Congress has set an annual fiscal limitation of 65,000 available H-1B visas, also known as the H-1B cap. Pursuant to the US-Chile and US-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, 6,800 of annual 65,000 available H-1Bs are set aside for Chilean and Singapore residents. Extension requests for current H-1B visa holders do NOT count towards the annual H-1B cap.
The first step in the H-1B process is the filing of the labor condition application (LCA) with the United States Department of Labor. Once the LCA is approved, the employer files the LCA approval notice along with the I-129 petition.
Spouses and unmarried children under 21 years old are eligible for H-4 status as dependents of the H-1B visa holder. H-4 visa holders are not eligible for employment authorization.
Unlike past years, the H-1B cap for 2009 was not met within the first few days of the annual limit becoming available (April 1, 2009). If your business is interested in pursuing H-1B processing for employees, contact The Nuñez Firm to schedule a consultation.
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