India.com Explains: H1-B Visa

The H1-B Visa is an employment-based, non-immigrant temporary visa given by the United States to employ skilled workers from other countries. This H1-B Visa is of special significance in the Silicon Valley.

What is H1-B Visa?

The H1-B visa is an employment-based, non-immigrant temporary visa given by the United states to employ skilled workers from other countries for a certain period of time.

The initial period of stay is 3 years and can be extended up to 6 years. This VISA is of special significance in the Silicon Valley. For this visa, an employer must offer a job in the US and apply for your H1-B visa petition with the US Immigration Department. Initially, it was intended to help American firms deal with labour shortages in rapidly growing jobs that required specialized skills.

How much does an H1-B Visa Cost?

For the for H1-B visa registration the fee is paid by the employer or the H1-B Sponsor. Typically, the fee ranges from $1700 to $8,000 and the application opens on April 1, while the employment authorization is granted on October 1st.

How many H1-B Visas are allotted each year?

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services sets a limit on how many H1B visas are issued each year. These numbers can change as per regulations of the US government. Historically, the cap is placed at 65,000. While, an additional 20,000 H1-B visas are issued for qualified people who have completed a master’s degree from USA. Although, the fillers are more than that. In fact, for financial year 20-21, there were about 2,75,000 visa applications for the H1-B visa across the world out of which 1,84,000 visas were filed by Indians.

How is the H1-B visa the issued?

So, if the number of applications is more than the set limit, then the government conducts a lottery to decide who gets to stay. However, the United States Biden administration has announced that it will modify the selection process for H-1B visa, giving priority to salary and skills instead of the current lottery procedures.