In December, the US Government increased the limit on HIB visas by legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush, but the law has also imposed more restrictions and fees on both the HIB and L visas.
The H1B visa is a professional visa for persons working in the U.S. The H1-B program is limited by law to 65,000 visas per year. When the cap is reached, no new applications can be accepted during the fiscal year (October 1 – September 30). This year, applications filed before October were so numerous that the limit was reached before the fiscal year began. New HIB applications are presently not accepted at all by the USCIS because the 65,000 limit has been already reached for 2004-2005. As such, new applications will not be approved until October, 2005.
The new law passed this month allows 20,000 new HIB visas to be approved prior to that date, but these are limited to persons with Masters Degrees obtained in the United States. Therefore it does not help most H1B eligible persons in the U.S.
The new law also requires new applicants to pay an additional $1,500 “training fee” as well as a $500 “Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee”. This makes the total fees that must be paid upon the filing of a new application to a total of of $2,180. These new fees take effect immediately.
In addition, the US Government imposed additional limitations on L-1 visa applicants. In an attempt to limit outsourcing, the new law forbids employees from working at workplaces different from those of their L-1 sponsor. This is focused primarily on “work shops” which apply for L-1 visas for foreign nationals and then send them to work at other companies for hire.
The present state of affairs makes it very difficult for persons to get a professional visa in the United States, at least until October 1st. For those persons here on a tourist visa or business visa expiring before that time, the alternative of switching to an H-1 is gone, except for those with a Masters Degree from the U.S. Persons in this situation must explore other alternatives, such as J visas, H-3 visas, E visas or other visas.
It is important to remember that any period of time in which a person is out of status – even while waiting for the availability of visas for an application already filed – will often prevent visa eligibility completely and cause the foreign national to be forever prohibited from changing status. For this reason, it becomes even more important that foreign nationals here plan ahead, get competent legal advice and explore every alternative well in advance of their visa expiration date
WARNING: The following is article
discussing legal issues. It is not intended to be a substitute
for legal advice. We recommend that you get competent legal
advice specific to your case. If you would like such advice
from our office, call (415) 777-4445 or (916) 349-2900 or
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