On the first business day of April, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes available a limited amount of H-1B nonimmigrant visas for U.S. employers to hire experienced foreign professionals. H-1B lottery visas are for professional workers in specialty occupations including IT, finance, accounting, architecture, engineering, mathematics, science, health care and medicine. To qualify for an H-1B visa in a specialty occupation you must meet one of the following criteria:
• Have completed a U.S. bachelor’s or higher degree from an accredited college or university
• Hold a foreign degree that is the equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or higher degree in the specialty occupation
• Hold an unrestricted state license, registration, or certification to practice the specialty occupation
• Have education, training, or progressively responsible experience in the specialty that is equivalent to the completion of such a degree
Hiring high-skilled immigrant workers can help U.S. startups get funded, win patents, and go public, says a recently published working paper, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your High-Skilled Labor: H-1B Lottery Outcomes and Entrepreneurial Success:
Relative to other firms that also applied for H-1B visas, firms with higher lottery win rates are more likely to receive additional venture capital funding and to have a successful exit via an IPO or acquisition. H-1B visa lottery winners also subsequently receive more patents and patent citations. Overall, our results show that access to high-skill labor is a critical determinant of success for start-up firms.
Many businesses get a competitive edge by recruiting foreign business professionals for positions in their American company. The U.S. government issues work permits to at most 85,000 high-skilled immigrant workers every year via H-1B visas – 65,000 for applicants who have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, and 20,000 for applicants with a master’s degree or higher. When the number of applicants exceeds the limit, U.S. Customs and Immigration Services can randomly grant visas through a lottery.
Godoy Law Firm’s experienced Illinois business immigration attorneys can assist foreign nurses and a wide range of professional occupation H-1B visa applicants. If you have a question about immigration employment in Illinois, contact the experienced immigration attorneys at Godoy Law Office.
Immigration Attorney Mario Godoy has years of experience guiding clients with immigration issues through the immigration process along with guiding clients through the criminal case. Godoy focuses on family-based immigration law, business immigration law, removal defense, and criminal defense representation of immigrants. A criminal charge or conviction can be devastating to your immigration case. With over a decade of immigration law experience and memories of family members who were deported due to bad legal advice, Godoy is committed to helping other immigrant families receive the legal justice they deserve. As a legal entrepreneur who practices immigration law, criminal law, estate and probate law, and running two successful law firms, Mario Godoy understands the importance of keeping families together and making a home and future in America.
