USA Green Card Immigration Blog

H-1B visa is a temporary non-immigrant visa. This permits foreign workers in “specialty occupations” to get entry into the U.S and work in various fields including architecture, engineering, modeling, medicine, and health.

To obtain the temporary non-immigrant visa, an applicant must have a US bachelor’s degree or a 4-year’s bachelor’s degree obtained from an accredited or recognized foreign university or college to be considered as an equivalent in their specialty, or a license exercising no restriction for the fields like teaching or pharmacy in the US In case, the applicant has less than 4 years of university study, he can merge the years of his degree/diploma with the years of study completed on a post-baccalaureate diploma, master’s degree, or other studies.

The applicants also have an option to combine progressive work experience in the field with university study – or use work experience only. Three years of progressive work experience in the field is equivalent to one year of US university study for H-1B purposes. Additionally, the applicant’s petition has to be moved by his/her US employer and he/she cannot be self-employed.

A foreign national with a degree from a foreign university who intends to come to the US on H-1B visa needs to get a credential evaluation done. Credential evaluation is the process of converting the records of education completed in one country into its US equivalency. Thus, this needs to be done if the applicant possesses a Bachelor’s degree from a foreign nation. This credential evaluation can be obtained through an assessment from an officer who has the right to grant college-level credit for training, or from college-level equivalency examination results, or from a nationally accredited professional association. The credential evaluation can also be done by a trusted credentials assessment service provider.

The USCIS just needs you to submit a report that includes an equivalency statement of the diplomas/degrees along with brief information on the institution where the studies were completed if you are seeking a credential evaluation.

The number of applicants for visas in the H-1B category for immigration to the United States has seen a sharp rise. Those who have a bachelor’s or an equivalent degree and wish to seek employment in the United States can apply for an H-1B visa.

Professionals such as scientists, management consultants, journalists, accountants, engineers, programmers, and research analysts can apply for visa in this category. In addition, famous fashion models are also eligible to apply for H-1B visa.

This visa is also suitable for aliens entering the United States to offer services related to cooperative research and development projects that are administered by the US Department of Defense. Professional nurses who want to enter the United States to perform complex duties or to supervise nursing operations also are eligible to apply for employment visa in this category.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently updated the number of H-1B petitions received for the fiscal year 2010. It reveals an increase in the number of petitions received for H-1B visas for the year 2010. USCIS received around a thousand H-1B petitions for visa in just one week. It has received nearly 58,900 visa applications for the H-1B category as of November 27, 2009.

The US immigration service has approved an adequate number of H-1B petitions for foreigners who have advanced degrees to meet the exemption number of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. If any H-1B petitions are filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree, then those visa applications will now be counted towards the general H-1B cap of 65,000.

USCIS will continue to accept both cap subject and advanced degree petitions till it reaches the statutory limit. The number of petitions that are denied, revoked, or withdrawn will also be taken into account while calculating the total number of petitions.