Tag Archives: h-1b

Location of Foreign H-1B, E-3 & Green Card Workers

Immigration News, , , ,

The office of Foreign Labor Certification is part of the US Department of Labor and the source a good proportion of Employers use when sponsoring Green Card PERM Applications under EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 or non-immigrant visas like H-1B, E-3 and H-2B. This is for the purposes of the Prevailing Wage portion of the application which specifies the role under which the foreign is being considered and that it meets all necessary requirements. The data covers the full year of 2011.

Now while this is not the only official source for Prevailing Wage determination it is a significant source and thus provides great direction data as to where in the US and what types of classifications are most popular. Thus you can see where most foreigners are working around the US (and potentially what areas are most conducive and/or competitive for foreigners to work for US visa employer sponsors) as well as what classifications are most popular.

Below is a full table and we will highlight some of the major points to note in summary. It is important to note as to why you see far more Green Card certifications below (i.e. PERM) vs. H-1B or E-3 work visa certification requests is because the annual cap quotas on work visa are far more restrictive and the Green Card certification can be done at any time, however in most cases under current law it will be many, many years before the foreigner is eligible.

  • California has 21% of all foreign workers and 24% of the Green Card Applicants
  • Texas has the most non-immmigrant workers under H-1B and E-3 visa
  • The Top 5 States (CA, NY, TX, NJ, FL) have about 50% of all foreign workers
  • New Jersey is only the 11st biggest state by population in US but had 4th most foreign works
  • Puerto Rico, a US territory, has more foreign works than 4 actual US States (MT, HI, AK, WY)
STATE Total PERM H-1B/E3 H-2B
All 97,541 80,041 12,879 4,621
California 19,774 18,563 1,076 135
New York 8,912 7,933 652 327
Texas 8,491 6,967 1,079 445
New Jersey 6,279 5,933 197 149
Florida 4,908 3,567 919 422
Illinois 4,693 3,632 1,014 47
Washington 3,863 3,550 273 40
Virginia 3,719 3,226 359 134
Massachusetts 3,614 2,886 378 350
Georgia 2,929 2,372 508 49
Michigan 2,859 2,185 557 117
Maryland 2,729 1,855 750 124
Pennsylvania 2,547 2,094 254 199
North Carolina 1,981 1,275 588 118
Ohio 1,850 1,451 316 83
Connecticut 1,433 1,020 379 34
Arizona 1,303 950 260 93
Indiana 1,064 633 405 26
Colorado 970 703 107 160
Missouri 936 654 193 89
Minnesota 875 713 124 38
Wisconsin 791 569 210 12
DC 770 630 137 3
Kansas 710 349 332 29
Tennessee 686 492 172 22
Oregon 683 551 122 10
Louisiana 645 332 102 211
Delaware 567 508 19 40
South Carolina 558 356 131 71
Alabama 549 350 130 69
Kentucky 492 328 86 78
Iowa 480 388 74 18
Utah 409 261 65 83
Oklahoma 389 298 26 65
Arkansas 370 268 68 34
Mississippi 342 133 161 48
Idaho 329 121 162 46
Maine 298 88 23 187
Nevada 291 240 39 12
Vermont 280 254 1 25
Nebraska 266 215 29 22
New Hampshire 250 192 29 29
New Mexico 236 172 43 21
South Dakota 218 65 66 87
North Dakota 202 105 59 38
West Virginia 181 111 59 11
Rhode Island 165 133 9 23
Puerto Rico 137 82 50 5
Hawaii 114 97 15 2
Alaska 98 37 11 50
Wyoming 98 32 14 52
Montana 78 33 17 28
Guam 76 73 3 0
Nthn Mariana Isl. 45 9 26 10
Virgin Islands 9 7 1 1

H-1B Visa Timeline of Events

Visa Info, , , , , , ,

A lot of people get confused at the arbitrary nature of the visa process and how long it actually takes. Whether you are a foreigner who has come to the US on Visa Waiver Program with an ESTA, the B-1 Visa or currently in the US in another capacity on the F-1 Visa for students, OPT status, J-1 Visa for interns or some other US visa, so many would like to work in the US and the best route for that in most cases is the H-1B visa.

So we will talk strictly about the general timeline of events and what you can expect to help you plan your time.

1. Searching for a Job (unknown but in most cases allowing yourself 3 months would be seen as prudent)

2. Job Offer & Negotiation (you might agree to be hired but to negotiate on salary + bonus, equity if any, severance and any other terms you might see as important  might take 1 week to finalize)

3. Filing ETA-9035(e) with Department of Labor (Once the document is filed electronically it takes about 7-10 days to get approval however any requests for more information can delay that and if your company is a first timer at doing it and/or slow moving legal counsel is involved this process from beginning to end can take around 3-4 weeks)

4 Filing I-129 with USCIS (This is actually the real Immigration step of filing for your approval whether you are inside or outside the US at the time. If you are doing this with normal processing periods and assuming you have no additional requests for information the approval and resulting I-797 will come in 2-3 months. If you have premium processing this will take about 2-3 weeks but that costs an extra $1,000. The preparing of this package and getting all the checks signed to file can take some time if done by lawyers and employers and that might add an additional 1-3 weeks before the package is even sent)

5. Applying for H-1B visa at a US Consulate (Depending on which consulate you apply at it can take be immediate up to 2 months to schedule an interview date so important to plan ahead and be aware of where you are applying and the appropriate wait times. After applying assuming you don’t go through Administrative Processing, you will usually receive your passport with visa stamp 2-3 days after your interview)

6. Commencing Work (If you are on a new H-1B visa the period to start work is from October 1 onwards. Unless you have a prior work status that allows you to work up until that date, you will have to wait to work)

Cj