Tag Archives: h1b visa

How to Get Your H-1B Visa Indirectly via the F-1 visa?

Visa Info, , , , , , , ,

The H-1B visa is possibly the most controversial visa in the entire US Immigration system and certainly receives the most press coverage. We have tried to help all of you via our posts and answering your comments and emails by trying to provide resources so you can find a employer sponsor and get your H-1B visa.

We have looked at the past year’s Top 100 H-1B visa employers as well as more basic topics like like creating the best US resume format and preparing for US H-1B Job Interviews.

We will look at another avenue to consider to getting your H-1B visa which of tens of thousands purse each year to great success making it the most common and thus pre-cursor to get a H-1B visa.

There are actually two ways we will eventually discuss as you see below but for now we will look at the F-1 visa route

  1. via F-1 visa
  2. via J-1 visa

The F-1 Visa:
This visa is a full time student visa and used mostly by International students from all over the world to study at US college and universities for their undergraduate, masters/graduate and/or PHD programs. I will cover more on the F-1 visa in future posts including all its benefits and pitfalls, requirements as well as how to apply, etc.

It is very popular and historically has been the main way people from all over the world have been able to transfer from student to the H-1B visa. So in essence it is already used extensively as a stepping stone for Internationals to become full working professionals in the United States.

Of course this is not a cheap option, as outside of outstanding students and those in many PHD programs, chances are you will have to pay for your education in full. As you may be aware, college tuition fees in the US are not cheap.

Now it is very difficult for International students to get loans in the US, however Sallie Mae does have a program called Tuition Pay allowing to break up payments evenly over the months of a semester.

Well short of having a source of funds to be able to attend one of the prestigious universities in the US like the Ivy League Group including Harvard or Yale, you can attend state universities where the tuition is much lower (although still probably expensive by global standards).

The tuition at state universities is subsidized by the Government and is even lower for residents of that state (normally you have to live in a state for 1 year to qualify for this so after a year of study your fees may even go down depending on the regulations of that state and university regarding foreign students).

The fees are generally charged by the amount of credits each subjects gives you and of course you need a certain amount. Without going into too much detail about this in this post, you are looking at up to $5,000 per semester for undergraduates but this depends on a large amount of factors and could vary. Here is a link from Sallie Mae to help you estimate costs. Of course Masters programs can be more but is generally only half the length of a undergraduate degree (2 years vs. 4 years)

After all that what the F-1 visa does give you is the ability to do 4 things which greatly enhance your chances of finding an employer to sponsor your H-1B visa easily.

  1. CPT – Curricullum Practical Training which allows you to work for credits to your degree (don’t do more than 12 months as it makes you ineligible for OPT)
  2. OPT – Occupational Practical Training which is 1 year for undergraduates and now possibly up to 2 years for Masters or Higher Degree Holders to work at a US company. This is usually done by a student following graduation
  3. Network via University, Alumni and Above Work Training Programs – The contacts you meet will be invaluable probably for the rest of your life and you will have so much help, support and advantage compared to the average E3 visa hopeful
  4. Time – This may be the most important advantage as say you do a 4 year degree in the US or even transfer here for a part of your degree, you have so much time to do practical things like apply for jobs, build resumes and attend job interviews.

 

This is the almost the best option in your quest to obtain your H1B visa as it is the path most often used as a foreigner already has established contacts in the US and time to navigate the Immigration system and US job market within the US.

CJ

H-1B Visa Quota Predictions For FY 2010

Guest Posts, , , , , , , , ,

The H-1B visa is a non immigrant visa classification used by professional foreign nationals who will be employed temporarily by a U.S. employer in either a specialty occupation or as a fashion model. A foreign national can be in H1B status for a maximum period of six years at a time, generally granted in two increments of three years.

Current law limits the number of H1Bs to 65,000 foreign nationals each year. The first 20,000 H1B visas are issued to foreign nationals who obtained their Masters Degree here in the U.S. because they are exempt from the 65,000 cap; H1B visas issued to advanced degree foreign nationals beyond the first 20,000 are then counted against the overall 65,000 cap. Some U.S. Senators have proposed increasing the cap, but legislation has not yet been passed by Congress.

H1B visa renewals and H1B visa extensions of stay do not count towards the annual limits. H1B nonimmigrants who work at (but not necessarily for) universities and non-profit research facilities are also excluded from the numerical cap. Transfers of H1B visas among U.S. employers only count against the cap when the foreign national is changing jobs from a U.S. employer that is exempt from the limits (academia or research) to one that is not exempt (for-profit).

The first day of filing for H-1B visas for FY 2010 is April 1, 2009. If the foreign national is already in the U.S., they must stay in lawful non immigrant status until October 1, 2009 when the H1B visa becomes effective. Although a review of past years (FY2004-FY2009) shows a rapid depletion of the H1B quota every year, FY2008 and FY2009 (i.e., last two fiscal years) have seen the entire 65,000 H1B visa quota met on the very first day of filing. The annual cap for FY 2008 was exceeded on the first day of filing. A random lottery was held, consisting of cases filed on the first two days, as required by regulation. The separate H1B visa exemption quota of 20,000 for U.S. advanced-degree holders lasted only about one month after they first became available for FY2008.

In response to that situation, the procedures changed for FY 2009, as the government decided that there would be a lottery of the cases filed on the first five days of filing, if the cap was reached during any of those five days. The cap was again met on the first day. FY 2009 also saw the entire 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree H1B quota exemptions exhausted in one day.

The government announced that they received about 163,000 H1B visa applications last year, and approximately 31,200 of those were for the Masters Degree category. Advanced degree holders have a better chance of being selected in the H1B lottery than individuals who are seeking a regular H1B visa because the government first holds the lottery for the 20,000 advanced degree visas; applications that are not drawn as part of that selection process are then added to the pool of applications for the 65,000 regular H1B visas, giving the first-time losers a second shot at getting an H1B visa.

Based on what happened in the past, the 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree H1B quota exemptions may also be gone on the very first day of filing for FY2010. In addition, those who did not receive an H1B approval in the last two years will re-apply, adding pressure to the competition to obtain an H1B approval under the pending quota. It is clear from the past two years is that it is highly recommended to file cap-subject H1B cases on April 1st, 2009 in order to best compete for an H1B visa.


Guest Post Author

Danielle Homant Nelisse