The positive news Jan. 9 of the declining U.S. unemployment rate (5.6 percent, a six-year low, according to the Department of Labor) does have one discouraging prognostication for employers hoping to hire specialty occupation workers on H-1B visas this year. Strong economic growth, coupled with a lack of any meaningful business immigration reform, suggests that the perpetually oversubscribed H-1B quota will be exhausted for the next federal fiscal year (FY 2016) within the first days of the filing period, which begins April 1. Private-sector employers have begun the annual petition preparation cycle with the expectation that they will have less than a 50 percent chance of being able to go through with their desired H-1B hires, even when they file on the first available date.

The H-1B visa is used to bring experienced professionals from abroad, and to hire international students from our local universities, most often in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields that are vital for maintaining competitiveness in the world economy. The H-1B visa is an employer-sponsored visa for “specialty occupation” jobs—defined as positions that normally require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific field. This is the visa for professionals—software developers, industrial engineers, financial analysts and pharmaceutical researchers, among others. While foreign-owned and multinational companies may have other visa options they can use, the H-1B is the only visa available to American companies that have no operations outside the United States.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]