In order for U.S. businesses to remain competitive, there must be a willingness and ability to attract and retain the best talent. And when it comes to information technology (IT), the U.S. simply does not produce enough qualified workers to fill all of the open tech jobs available throughout the country. This has led many businesses to rely on temporary workers and H1-B professionals.
Recently, Paragon sat down with immigration attorney, Sunny Azhar, to discuss the complexities around work visas and H1-B applications.
Understanding the H1-B Cap Lottery:
H1-B Cap
- The 2020-2021 H1-B cap filing season begins March 1, 2020
- Due to the overwhelming requests (more than 200,000 annually), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducts a lottery to select 85,000 H1-B cap visa recipients.
- H1-B workers with a U.S. master's degree have a higher likelihood of being selected (In 2019, every candidate Sunny filed papers for who had a master's from the U.S. were selected.)
- Initially, 65,000 registrations are randomly selected, followed by an additional 20,000 registrations specifically designated for H1-B workers with a U.S. master’s degree.
H1-B Cap Exempt
- Workers who are employed by an H1-B cap-exempt employer are not subject to the lottery.
- H1-B petitions must be filed by an H1-B cap exempt employer and usually fall within one of two categories:
- Institutions of higher education or affiliated nonprofit entity
- Nonprofit research or governmental research organization - Can be filed at any point in time during the year.
- If an H-1B worker received a cap exemption previously, then that individual is not subject to the cap.