The "Temporary Professional Worker " visas are available to individuals with a four year bachelor's degree from the U.S. or abroad seeking a professional position with a United States employer. Under recent interpretations, the employer can be a corporation owned entirely by the foreign professional and/or his/her family. The visa is available for a maximum of six years and also can lead to permanent residency.

DESCRIPTION: The H-1B visa allows a professional worker from abroad to be employed by a U.S. employer (the Petitioner). The main requirements for these positions are that the candidate possess the equivalent of at least a U.S. Bachelors Degree, as well as experience relevant to the position for which approval is sought. An H-1B employee may remain in the United States up to 6 years and no particular relationship between the prior employer abroad and the U.S. corporation is required. However, the employee must be licensed under his particular profession in the United States and corresponding state, unless it can be established that such licensure is not necessary. (For example, a foreign engineer working for a U.S. corporation but supervised by U.S. licensed engineer may be able to avoid the state licensing requirement.) The "H" visa, as well as the "L" visa, is specifically exempt from the presumption of immigrant intent. Under this change, working and living in the United States is possible during the pendency of a Labor Certification filed by the employer to obtain the professional's green card. This category is extremely attractive under the new law and will probably be utilized a great deal in the coming years.

REQUIREMENTS:

• U.S. Bachelors Degree or foreign equivalent
• (if degree is foreign) analysis by independent credentials evaluations service attesting that foreign degree is equivalent to U.S. Bachelors Degree
• Professional job offer which closely parallels the training and background of the particular employee
• Filing of a Labor Condition Attestation with the U.S. Department of Labor
• Prevailing wage survey conducting by the local state employment agency to protect the employer
• I-129H petition approved by INS

Major Steps in H1B visa process:_




1. The US Company contacts our firm that they wish to hire a Foreign Worker.
   NOTE: A prerequisite of the H-1B visa is that the recipient must have a 4-year Bachelor's degree or equivalent and the position for which he/she is being hired must require such a degree.

2. The Company's Recruiter gives an H-1B checklist to the worker to obtain all the necessary documentation required for filing the petition. In addition, our firms files a request for the State Prevailing Wage (unless a publishes salary survey is available to the Company). If the wage being offered is lower than the State Prevailing Wage, the visa cannot be filed.

3. The Foreign Worker supplies the required documentation (requested in Step 2) to our firm Upon receipt of the Prevailing Wage information, our firms Form ETA-9035 Labor Condition Attestation with the Regional Department of Labor (DOL) office. In addition, the Recruiter posts the ETA-9035 (not endorsed) at the worksite per compliance memo.

4. Our firm then
   a.) Prepares the Visa application and petition package;
   b.) Files it at the appropriate Service Center, along with the DOL approved ETA- 9035.

5. A Notice of Receipt or a Request for Additional Information is sent by INS. All inquiries by the INS are received by our firm and handled accordingly. Often, the INS will find something unclear that must be explained in more clear terms. It may be something as simple as a small exclusion of data or the absence of a specific piece of evidence. Once all information requirements have been satisfied, it's then off to Step Six.

6. The Notice of Approval is issued by the Regional INS. Once all evidence requirements have been satisfied, the INS approves the application and the H1-B status is approved.

7. Once all of the above has been completed, one of several possibilities will occur:
   a.) If the Worker is in status (no lapse in employment, or unlicensed practice), he/she can begin work immediately.
   b.) If the Worker is not in status, but has a valid H-1B visa in passport, he/she must depart U.S., re-enter and obtain a new I-94 card at airport or border.
   c.) If the Worker is not in status and has no valid H-1B visa in passport, he/she must depart U.S., obtain visa stamp at U.S. Consulate abroad, and obtain a new I-94 card at the airport upon re-entry.

It is important to note that the timeframes vary so dramatically for each of these steps, dependent upon state, DOL, and INS processing times, that an "average" time would be misleading.