H-1B Filing Season Is Here – Filing Deadline Is the First Week of April
We have once again entered the H-1B cap filing season. The H-1B is a popular nonimmigrant visa category that is available to highly skilled foreign nationals who are offered an H-1B-qualifying position by a U.S. employer. This is also known as a “specialty occupation visa” because in order to be eligible for this visa category, the position that is being offered to a foreign national must require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a specific field and the foreign national must meet that requirement.
Because there are more petitions filed than there are new H-1Bs available, USCIS conducts a lottery each year of all H-1B cap petitions filed during the first week of April to select the ones that it will adjudicate. U.S. companies who have employees in a nonimmigrant status (typically students in F-1 status and have temporary work authorization through an Employment Authorization Document) should speak with an immigration attorney right away to discuss filing H cap petitions this season.