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Ice on Immigration: H-1B visas 

By L. Patricia Ice, Featured Columnist

Question:  I am in the United States on a temporary visa that expires in July 2007. I am a professional with a university degree. There is a private employer who would like to hire me to work at his company in my professional capacity. She would like to hire me as an H-1B temporary worker in a specialty occupation. I heard that there are currently no H-1B visas available. If this is true, when is the earliest time I can apply for one, and when can I start the job if the visa status is approved? 

Answer:  An employer may file a new I-129 Petition for Temporary Worker for H-1B status beginning on April 1, 2007. If approved, the earliest date you could begin work would be on October 1, 2007, the first day of the new fiscal year. Since your current visa status expires in July, you may have to leave the United States and apply for the visa in your home country in order to return and start work on or about October 1. Only 65,000 new H-1B visas can be issued each fiscal year. (This number does not include those workers whose H-1B visa status is being extended or certain other H-1B workers who are exempt from the 65,000 numerical limit.)  I suggest that you and your employer consult an immigration lawyer soon about filing for H-1B visa status. There is extensive paper work that needs to be gathered and carefully prepared. It is best to file the I-129 Petition on or as close to April 1, 2007 as possible because there is usually a great demand for the H-1B visa. In the last two years the 65,000 numerical limit has been reached in just a few months after April 1.