H1B VISA APPLICATION PROCESS

ABOUT THE HIB VISA

 The US H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign
individual for up to six years.
 H1B visas are subject to annual numerical limits.
 US employers may begin applying for the H-1B visa six months before the actual start date of
the visa. Since the beginning of the FY 2009 is October 1, 2008, employers can apply as soon as
April 1, 2008 for the FY 2009 cap, but the beneficiary cannot start work until October 1st.
 The H1B visa is designed to be used for staff in "speciality occupations", that is those
occupations which require a high degree of specialized knowledge. Generally at least the
equivalent of a job-relevant 4-year US Bachelor's degree is required.
 The initial visa may be granted for up to three years. It may then be extended, in the first
instance for up to two further years, and eventually for one further year, to a maximum of six
years.
 Once a company has brought an employee to the US on an H1B visa, should the company
dismiss that employee before the expiry of the visa, the company is liable for any reasonable
costs that the employee incurs in moving him/herself, his/her effects, back to his/her last
foreign residence. This provision covers only dismissal, it is not relevant when an employee
chooses to resign.

Article Source: http://www.workpermit.com/us/us_h1b.htm

 APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

Information/Documentation required from Employer to complete H-1B Visa forms:

 Job title
 Detailed job description: To give you an idea of what is required, the following type of
information should be included for computer related positions: include software,
hardware, languages and operating systems for computer jobs. Other professions
should provide us with a detailed job description using terms specific to their industry.
(Example - Design and development of new client/server database solutions using
expertise with Oracle and Sybase RDBMS, SAP, C/C++ and general software engineering
and development techniques including GUI development on UNIX and Windows
platforms.)
 Salary offered
 The company's minimum requirements for the job (for example, a Bachelors degree
plus 1 year experience)
 Name and job title of person who will sign the forms on behalf of the company
 Name and address of company. If foreign worker will be working at a client site, give us
the name of the client site company and its physical address.
 Informational brochures/promotional literature about the company. If this is a new
company just starting up we need financial information about the company such as
bank statements, most recent income tax return, articles of incorporation, business
plan, financial statements or any documentation which will prove that the company is
lucrative and can pay the salary of the foreign worker you want to hire.
 Employer Federal Tax I.D. #, year company was established, approximate number of
employees and approximate gross and net annual income
 Telephone number and fax number for company
 Client site letter on the client site's letterhead. We will be happy to assist you with
language necessary for this letter to be most effective.

Article Source: http://www.immspec.com/h-1b-visa-document-list.htm

 APPLICATION FEE

To apply for the H1BVisa these are the official USCIS fees; (all USD)

 USCIS Filing Fee with USCIS $320 - Form I-129

 Fraud Detection Fee with USCIS $500
 LCA Filing Fee with Department of Labor FREE - Form ETA 9035/9035e
 Premium Filing Fee $1,000 (optional - Form I-901) - excessive designed to help process
where your legal representative has access to case officer phone number and decisions
are made fast in 15 days
 ACWIA Fee $750 or $1,500 - if your petition is successful this goes to a training fund for
US workers and is $1,500 unless you have less than 25 full time employees. Some
government, education and non-profit institutions are exempt from this fee
 Consular Application Fee $131
 Visa Issuance Fee $100
 Legal Fee for services rendered

Technically all the H1B visa costs including legal costs are meant to be paid by your employer
and most good employers will do all this for you but a few try to pass this cost in various
devious ways back to the employee.

If you are paying for a lawyer itself it can be good to get a fixed legal quote for the entire H1B
visa process and to shop around but also know that you often get what you pay for and
additional work will no doubt cost extra.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Jacob