While last season FY2012, the H1B visa quota was exhausted on November 22, 2011, the H1B visa quota if continues at the current rate by mid July we may be fully completed which both is different from prior years and also probably means in 2013 with a further improving economy it will be even more competitive.
With the US unemployment rate down to 8.1%, and tech companies booming with many recent and forthcoming IPOs with Facebook, Yelp, Zinga, LinkedIn, Pandora, etc., the need for skilled workers particularly in engineering is hot.

At May 11, 2012, the main H-1B Visa Quota fill rate is increasing in the second week of May, up 13% to 36,700 from 32,500 on May 4. Over the last 2 weeks there has been a 26% increase in H-1B quota and with recent Green Card Lottery Results now announced, those who missed out are now even more reliant on the H-1B visa route. Almost 75% of the Advanced Degree exemption quota for foreigners with a US Master’s Degree is now exhausted, up about 8% to 14,800 from 13,700 on May 4.

It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap which is about 6,800 set aside each year but is rarely filled and unused from the previous year are used in the current year. These are still being accepted for FY2012. Also please note the Official USCIS FY2013 H-1B portal.

Congrats to all those who managed to find an employer sponsor thus far and have got their application in early this year and good luck to those on F1 Visa OPT this year in your quest to get an H-1B visa. It is already a more competitive year this year than recent times so would be good to accelerate your search now and apply, apply, apply!

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

The increases are supposed to be for increased demand in visas abroad along with facilities and staffing costs, however given the H-1B visa general demand over last 3 years is down significantly along with many other visas, not sure the logic holds up. Combine that with the huge US Budget shortfalls and this is an easy political move to increase revenue while not annoying actual voters.

As we said a majority of categories of nonimmigrant visa processing fees will increase, the fee for E visas (treaty-traders and treaty-investors as well as the E3 for Australians) and K visas (for fiancé(e)s of U.S. citizens) will decrease.

Nonimmigrant Visa Processing Fees

Immigrant Visa Processing Fees

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

While last season FY2012, the H1B visa quota was exhausted on November 22, 2011, the H1B visa quota if continues at the current rate will be lucky to be still running during May. With the US unemployment rate down to 8.2%, and tech companies booming with many recent and forthcoming IPOs with Facebook, Yelp, Zinga, LinkedIn, Pandora, etc., the need for skilled workers particularly in engineering is hot.

As at April 27, 2012, getting close to a half of the main H-1B Visa Quota has been filled, up 17% to 29,200 from 25,000 on April 20. This is a slight slowing of the 21% increase in H-1B quota the prior week. Now over half of the Advanced Degree exemption for foreigners with a US Master’s Degree has also been filled also up 11% to 12,300 from 10,900 on April 20.

It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap which is about 6,800 set aside each year but is rarely filled and unused from the previous year are used in the current year. These are still being accepted for FY2012. Also please note the Official USCIS FY2013 H-1B portal.

Congrats to all those who managed to find an employer sponsor thus far and have got their application in early this year and good luck to those on F1 Visa OPT this year in your quest to get an H-1B visa. It is already a more competitive year this year than recent times so would be good to accelerate your search now and apply, apply, apply!

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

H1B Visa Application Fees
Base fee of $325
ACWIA fee of $750/$1,500 (if/as applicable)
Fraud Prevention and Detection fee of $500 (if applicable)
Public Law 111-230 fee of $2,000 (if applicable)
Premium Processing Service fee of $1,225 (if applicable)

All checks or money orders are signed and made payable to the “U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” If the 
petition is submitted with the wrong filing fee, it will be rejected as improperly filed. If one or more of the required fees are returned due to insufficient payment, the H-1B petition will NOT retain the original filing date. 

H-1B Regular Cap
1.  Requested start date must be on/after 10/01/2012 and within 6 months of the filing date.
2.  Includes current H-1B visa holders that were previously cap exempt and are now seeking to change to cap-subject employment.
3.  Check the box for 1a on Part C of Page 18.

H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption
1.  Requested start date must be on/after 10/01/2012 and within 6 months of the filing date.
2.  Beneficiary has earned a master’s (or higher) degree from a U.S. educational institution.
3.  Check the box for 1b on Part C of Page 18 and complete Question 2, Part C on Page 18.

Chile/Singapore H-1B1 Cap
1.  Requested start date for a FY 2013 H-1B1 must be on/after 10/01/2012 and within 6 months of the filing date.
2.  Beneficiary is a national of Chile or Singapore.
3.  Check the box for 1c on Part C of Page 18.
4.  Complete, sign and submit Page 10, Trade Agreement Supplement to Form I-129.

POINTS OF NOTE:
Petition includes original signatures (preferably in black ink) on Pages 6, 7, 10 (if applicable) and 12 of Form I-129 (with a revision date of 11/23/10 or later).

All sections of the Form I-129, H Classification Supplement to Form I-129, and H-1B Data Collection and Filing Fee Exemption Supplement (with revision date of 11/23/10 or later) are completed and all required pages are enclosed.

Form I-907 (with revision date of 08/10/09 or later) is completed, signed in the original, and enclosed if seeking Premium Processing Service.

A certified Department of Labor (DOL) Labor Condition Application (LCA) is signed by petitioner and enclosed.

Petition is being mailed with appropriate labels to the California Service Center (CSC) or Vermont Service Center (VSC) consistent with filing jurisdictions and instructions listed at www.uscis.gov.

All questions on Form I-129, H-1B Data Collection and Filing Fee Exemption Supplement (with a revision date of 11/23/10 or later), Pages 17 through 19 (particular those in Part C) are answered correctly.

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

As with last year we are also documenting the H1B visa costs so you can have all the information in one post. Now while it is unlikely the H1B visa lottery for both the Advanced Degree Exemption quota of 20,000 and the main H1B visa quota of 65,000 will be necessary, as mentioned there was been a rush to towards the end of the FY2012 H1B season and with the unemployment rate down to 8%, and job numbers for skilled workers improving, there is a possibility that this season will be more like 2007 & 2008.

On April 1, 2012 will be the first day the United States Custom & Immigration Service (USCIS )will accept new H1B visa petitions for the FY2013 H1B Visa season. Prior to that you can and should file your ETA-9035(e) for to the Department of Labor to get the your Labor Certification Approval (LCA) because that needs to be sent with the application. And regardless of the fact that we have been inaccurate for the last 3 years as to how quickly the H1B visa quota has been filled, an early and proper application is always the best recipe for success and less heartache. (official USCIS H1B site)

Ensure you also read H1B visa Season Tips and have all your H1B supporting documents ready to file immediately to file via your employer or attorney on April 1, 2012 for the FY2013 season.

Even though we are now in an election year, President Obama did call for some action to be taken even in a small way on the immigration front in his State of the Union address. Personally I think that is unlikely but it is certainly important to pay attention what the candidates are saying in relation to the Immigration policy and how they feel about legislation submitted to the US congress to limit the scope of the H1B visa and and things like the Start-Up visa.

H1B Visa Fees 2012

To Apply for the Visa; (all USD)
1. USCIS Filing Fee with USCIS $325 – Form I-129 (Spouse optional H4 Fee is $300)
2. Fraud Detection Fee with USCIS $500
–
3. LCA Filing Fee with Department of Labor FREE – Form ETA 9035/9035e (a small win here…although am sure will change one day)
Also have to ensure prevailing wages are met as well in this part so you are paid the same or more as a US worker in same position)
–
4. Premium Filing Fee $1,225 (optional – Form I-901) – excessive designed to help process where your legal representative has access to case officer phone number and decisions are made fast in 15 days and can also aid spouse partner H4 visa process
–
5. Public Law 111-230 $2,000 – (dependent) to be submitted by a petitioner which employs 50 or more employees in the United States where more than 50 percent of its employees in the United States are in H-1B or L-1 nonimmigrant status.
–
6. ACWIA Fee $750 or $1,500 – if your petition is successful this goes to a training fund for US workers and is $1,500 unless you have less than 25 full time employees. Some government, education and non-profit institutions are exempt from this fee

ADDITIONAL FEES FOR VISA STAMPING IN FOREIGN COUNTRY
_
7. Consular Application Fee $131 (x2 for spouse)
8. Visa Issuance Fee $100 (x2 for spouse) (but varies by country so check the Visa Reciprocity Section of the USCIS

(NB: If able to transfer to H1B visa status within US without needing to leave the country if you are in a current non-immigrant visa status expires after October 1, then you can file form I-539 with the USCIS along with I-129. If filing these forms together there is no additional fee)

Total If Visa Issued Outside US: $1,706 to $3,456 (plus $1,225 Premium Filing Fee if Opted)

Total If Visa Status Change within US (if eligible): $1,476 to $3,226 (plus $1,225 Premium Filing Fee if Opted)

NB: If you change your status to H1B within the US and then later travel outside the US for whatever reason, then to re-enter the US you will need to get an H1B visa stamp in your passport anyway so have to attend as US Consulate or Embassy interview in a foreign country.

It is important to realize that none of the above costs include any legal costs at all so if you are deciding whether you need a layer for your H1B visa process if you are paying for one yourself, that you realize what the actual H1B visa application costs are as listed above and thus what your lawyer is charging you for their time. You should note it is NOT mandatory at all to have an attorney

Technically all the H1B visa costs including legal costs are meant to be paid by your employer and most good employers will do all this for you but a few try to pass this cost in various devious ways back to the employee.

If you are paying for a lawyer itself it can be good to get a fixed legal quote for the entire H1B visa process and to shop around but also know that you often get what you pay for and additional work will no doubt cost extra.

Finally is you are trying to decide whether any of the many H1B visa help sites like H1Base or H1visajobs are worth the fees they charge to help in your search then definitely read our reviews and others before making up your mind.

All the Best,
CJ

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

On November 22, 2011, the H1B visa quota has been reached according to the USCIS and they will no longer accept new H1B visa petitions for this current year as they assume the applications on hand will fulfill the current quota

This equates to about about a 15,000 increase in the main cap in the last 10 days which is a massive acceleration given that in September we were not even half way through either the Advance Degree Exemption cap or the Main cap. The Advanced Degree Exemption category which is now fully exhausted for this H1B visa season cycle as at October 21 for the 20,000 visas.

It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap which is about 6,800 set aside each year but is rarely filled and unused from the previous year are used in the current year. These are still being accepted for FY2012.

Congrats to all those who were successful this year and good luck to those on F1 Visa OPT for next year which would begin on April 1, 2012. It may well be a more competitive year next year so would be good to begin your search now and plan ahead.

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

As October 1st is the start of the new year otherwise known as FY2012. That means if you have already been approved for an H1B visa since April 1, 2011, your new visa has already taken effect and you can legally begin working for your sponsor employer now. It also means that if you are sponsored now, given how long the application process takes even with premium processing, you will be able to start working immediately which is a great selling point for foreigners to a prospective employer and sponsor as opposed to earlier in the year.

So as of November 18, 2011, which is the most recent H1B quota update the USCIS has announced. There are currently 61,800 petitions to count towards the general 65,000 H1B visa cap which only includes petitions that are approved or pending. Anything that has already been denied is not included.

This equates to about another 5,500 increase in the main cap since the last USCIS update on November 14 which is a light slowing of the H1B visa approval acceleration of September to mid October. The Advanced Degree Exemption category which is now fully exhausted for this H1B visa season cycle as at October 21 for the 20,000 visas.

In the last weeks the main cap has gone up by over 10,000 and the Advanced exemption quota is almost complete so if you are a foreigner looking work in the US and be sponsored by a employer, don’t delay because for whatever reason there is certainly an acceleration happening in recent times.

Remember if you have a US graduate degree and eligible for the Advance Degree additional cap, that now that cap is exhausted your application just falls under the main H1B quota.

(It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap which is about 6,800 set aside each year but is rarely filled and unused from the previous year are used in the current year)

So it would seem that there is plenty of visas still available and judging by the moderate amount of applications received thus far, traditional H1B visa sponsor companies are still nowhere the levels of hiring they were in 2006-8,

Good Luck to All Who Are Searching!

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

In the past we have looked at the Top 100 companies that sponsored US work visas and E3 Visa specific employer sponsors among other tips around creating US resumes, US interview tips and our Top 10 steps to working in the US. So there is many a good grounding of resources across the site along with the many reader experiences as to how they traveled to the US and found a job.

Given the nature of this information we think it gives a foreigners a good idea of the pulse of the US hiring market and where the majority of opportunities currently lie from a corporate and sector perspective as well as the cities and regions of the country that you may have most success.

The data below while not specific in the source of the numbers from Rediff, is certainly great from a directional perspective and shows everybody a great perspective on the US economy and job market at large. Firstly we look at the Top 10 companies in terms of spending on the H1B visa

Top 10 H1B Visa Companies

This list of company is not that different from some of the past years and other top employer lists we released. You can see it is dominated by high tech and bio tech companies obviously seeking the highly skilled foreign engineers, computer scientists and graduate/phd level foreigners. A good proportion of which would have graduated as students on the F1 visa from US colleges and universities and may have worked during their F1 OPT period at these companies prior to their full employment and H1B visa sponsorship. US students are a minority as colleges and universities for studies in the sciences, engineering, math and technology particularly at the graduate level. Hence the push from a lot of these companies to push for even greater quota for the H1B visa to help fill large vacancies.

Top 10 H1B Visa Cities

The Top 10 H1B visa cities presents information that in many ways matches the list above. 7 of the 10 cities in this list come from the Bay Area and Silicon Valley in Northern California home to the tech industry of the world and some of the most innovative companies of recent history such as;

- Apple (Cupertino)
- Facebook (Palo Alto)
- Twitter (San Francisco)
- Yahoo (Sunnyvale)
- Google (Mountain View)

Then when you consider that Redmond in Washington is home to Microsoft and that Oracle is also located in this Northern California area and that New York and Chicago are two of the world’s largest cities for not just technology but finance, health and many other industries you can start to see a common trend.

One thing to note is that where there is opportunity there is also competition. So if you look at other major centers like Houston TX, Charlotte NC, Austin TX, Boston MA among other areas of the country that there are also many other great regions in the country to live and work

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

As October 1st is the start of the new year otherwise known as FY2012. That means if you have already been approved for an H1B visa since April 1, 2011, your new visa has already taken effect and you can legally begin working for your sponsor employer now. It also means that if you are sponsored now, given how long the application process takes even with premium processing, you will be able to start working immediately which is a great selling point for foreigners to a prospective employer and sponsor as opposed to earlier in the year.

So as of October 21, 2011, which is the most recent H1B quota update the USCIS has announced. There are currently 46,200 petitions to count towards the general 65,000 H1B visa cap which only includes petitions that are approved or pending.
Anything that has already been denied is not included.

Additionally at October 21, 20,00 petitions have now been received for the US Advanced Degree exemption quota portion of the H1B visa cap which means the USCIS are saying that they consider all future application will go towards the main cap.

This equates to about a 2,900 increase in the main cap since the last USCIS update on October 14 which is probably been the fastest period of growth since the beginning and a 400 increase in the Advanced Degree Exemption category which is now fully exhausted for this H1B visa season cycle.

In the last 6 weeks, the main cap has gone up by almost 14,000 and the Advanced exemption quota is almost complete so if you are a foreigner looking work in the US and be sponsored by a employer, don’t delay because for whatever reason there is certainly an acceleration happening in recent times. (i.e. if this was the normal rate from the beginning, the full 85,000 H1B cap would have been exhausted in just over 6 weeks sometime in mid to late May following the April 1 opening)

Remember if you have a US graduate degree and eligible for the Advance Degree additional cap, that now that cap is exhausted your application just falls under the main H1B quota.

(It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap)

So it would seem that there is plenty of visas still available and judging by the moderate amount of applications received thus far, traditional H1B visa sponsor companies are still nowhere the levels of hiring they were in 2006-8,

Good Luck to All Who Are Searching!

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.

September is the last month of the US Immigration year and October 1st is the start of the new year otherwise known as FY2012. That means if you have already been approved for an H1B visa since April 1, 2011, your new visa takes effect next month. It also means that you if you are sponsored now, given how long the application process takes even with premium processing, you will be able to start working immediately which is a great selling point for foreigners to a prospective employer and sponsor as opposed to earlier in the year.

So as of September 9, 2011, which is the most recent H1B quota update the USCIS has announced. There are currently 32,200 petitions to count towards the general 65,000 H1B visa cap which only includes petitions that are approved or pending.
Anything that has already been denied is not included.

Additionally at September 9, 16,700 petitions have been received for the US Advanced Degree exemption quota portion of 20,000. It should be noted that if the advanced degree quota fills up, then those petitions go into the pool for the regular 65,000 cap.

This equates to about a 7.000 increase in the main cap since the last USCIS update on August 12 and a 2,000 increase in the Advanced Degree Exemption category. Given over half of the main cap still is remaining the opportunities still exist as they have for the past 2 years for foreigners right through the rest of 2011 to find employers and most likely it will continue into 2012

(It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap)

So it would seem that there is plenty of visas still available and judging by the moderate amount of applications received thus far, traditional H1B visa sponsor companies are still nowhere the levels of hiring they were in 2006-8,

Good Luck to All Who Are Searching!

Cj

©2012 E3 Visa. All Rights Reserved.