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H-1B visa applications open up next week
http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/29/technology/h1b-visa-premium-processing/index.html
It's busy season for immigration lawyers. On April 3, people can start submitting H-1B visa petitions for the new fiscal year.
The popular visa, beloved by the tech industry, is a pathway for skilled foreigners to work in the U.S.
It's in high demand: Last year, the cap of 85,000 H-1B visas was reached less than a week after the application period opened up. During that time, 236,000 petitions were submitted.
When demand exceeds supply, the visas are awarded through a lottery system.
And this year, there are additional stress factors: The political environment is decidedly less welcoming to foreigners and one of the favored processing options has been put on hold.
For an additional $1,225 fee, premium processing guarantees that an H-1B petition is reviewed within 15 days (if it's selected in the lottery). According to USCIS, premium processing filings accounted for 59% of the total H-1B filings in 2016. But in March, USCIS announced it was temporarily freezing that option on April 3.
Non-premium visa petitions can take as much as eight months before they're approved, immigration lawyers say. USCIS hopes to reduce overall processing times with the temporary freeze.
"Like any other bureaucratic function, [visa petitions] pile up when there's a lot of people interested in filing and only limited resources," Robert Sakaniwa, senior associate director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNNTech.
It's busy season for immigration lawyers. On April 3, people can start submitting H-1B visa petitions for the new fiscal year.
The popular visa, beloved by the tech industry, is a pathway for skilled foreigners to work in the U.S.
It's in high demand: Last year, the cap of 85,000 H-1B visas was reached less than a week after the application period opened up. During that time, 236,000 petitions were submitted.
When demand exceeds supply, the visas are awarded through a lottery system.
And this year, there are additional stress factors: The political environment is decidedly less welcoming to foreigners and one of the favored processing options has been put on hold.
For an additional $1,225 fee, premium processing guarantees that an H-1B petition is reviewed within 15 days (if it's selected in the lottery). According to USCIS, premium processing filings accounted for 59% of the total H-1B filings in 2016. But in March, USCIS announced it was temporarily freezing that option on April 3.
Non-premium visa petitions can take as much as eight months before they're approved, immigration lawyers say. USCIS hopes to reduce overall processing times with the temporary freeze.
"Like any other bureaucratic function, [visa petitions] pile up when there's a lot of people interested in filing and only limited resources," Robert Sakaniwa, senior associate director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNNTech.
What's Dolt 45 going to do about it? Buy American and hire American? Send our coal miners overseas for work? Switch to favor Russian workers? Tax cuts?
