The continued growth of the economy, 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 2018) within the first days of the filing period, which begins April 3. At the same time, the current administration signaled during the campaign that it would be seeking reforms of the H-1B visa program, and since the election, several bills have been introduced to increase wage levels, give preference for H-1B visas to certain professionals, and to impose recruiting requirements on prospective H-1B employers. These changes are meant to lower demand for the H-1B visas, particularly among technology outsourcing companies that file significant numbers of H-1B petitions each year.
The H-1B visa is used to bring 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. Many H-1Bs are also employed in education, heath care and finance as well. 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This content has been archived.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
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]
