How Human Resources Can Assist in the Sponsorship of an H-1B Visa

HR professionals are expected to do a million different duties on a limited budget, and between managing the onboarding process and listening to employee concerns, among dozens of other obligations, an HR professional’s job is never done. So we’ll take care of one thing for you: studying the H-1B application procedure.

Your coworkers have recruited a foreign national, and you have been entrusted with obtaining an H-1B visa for a new employee beginning in 2016 or 2017. So, what now?

H-1B Petitions Budget

H-1B visas typically cost $5,000 per employee. Immigration lawyer expenses range from $2,000 to $3,000 on average, while filing government fees are often about $3,000. Employers must also have sufficient funds in the bank to pay the H-1B employee’s wage for a “reasonable” amount of time, which is determined on a case-by-case basis.

The H-1B Petition Filing Procedure

1. Submit an application for a labour condition.

LCAs are a set of declarations that indicate that employing an H-1B employee would not have a negative impact on any U.S. citizen employees. This comprises the following assertions:

The employee will be paid the industry standard for the position.

The employee will get the same benefits as other employees in the position.

The employee’s actions will not have a detrimental impact on the working conditions of other workers.

There is no current labour dispute or work stoppage in existence at the time the employee is hired.

It should be noted that applications cannot be submitted more than six months in advance of the employee’s start date, and the LCA must be made accessible to any member of the public who asks it within 24 hours of filing.

It’s worth noting, especially for HR professionals, that this implies the H-1B employee’s salary is available to anybody.

Any applications received by the Department of Labor will be responded to within seven business days.

2. Submit an H-1B Proposal

Employers must submit the visa petition on behalf of their workers, who are not permitted to self-petition. Every firm must file a petition for one of the 65,000 H-1B visas made available by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services on April 1 of each year (USCIS). It is important to note that an extra 20,000 visas are available for employees with a master’s degree or above.

Accepted suggestions are then chosen at random. Once the visa ceiling is met, the USCIS will no longer accept H-1B petitions for the 2017 fiscal year and will not accept new applications until April 2017. The cap has been achieved in the first week of April for the last three years.

An H-1B visa, if accepted, permits workers to lawfully remain and work in the United States for up to three years. After three years, the visa may be renewed for a total of six years.