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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.
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