Holiday season is the good time for the employers to begin their preparation for H-1B limit for the FY 2017 which is starting from 1s October 2016. The demand for H-1B has slowly increased as previous year only 40% of the petitions for H-1B were selected in lottery. Employers shall expect the trend to continue and should be prepared to file their petitions for H-1B on the early possible date of 1st April 2016.
H-1B is the very important category of the visa as it permits qualified professionals for entering the US. Limited number of might be granted ever year. Only 65,000 new petitions for H-1B might be issued every year with extra 20,000 available to the individuals with advance degrees from the US institution.
For the FY 2016, the USCIS received around 2,33,000 petitions for H-1B during the period of filing. For the previous year the USCIS has received around 1,72,500 petitions. It is expected that more cases would be filed this year as well.
Due to large number of cases that are being filed, there are chances that the cases can miss the filing date due to delay. The employers should get a Labour Condition Application (LCA) certification from the Labour Deparment (DOL). No petitions would be accepted by the USCIS without the LCA certification.
Due to increase in demands for the H-1B it is necessary for the employers to assess the population of the employees early for ensuring that the petitions are submitted by the early possible date.
The students on F-1 visas and those who are currently working for you pursuant to approve OPT shall be the first group of employees for considering the filing of petitions for H-1B on 1st April. When the employees might extend their OPT , the employers shall file an H-1B for FY 2017. This will give the employees twin opportunities for obtaining the H-1B visa.
In previous years, the category of L-1B visa has faced the enlarged inquiry. The strict analysis of what qualifies as the specialized knowledge has led to rejections of many petitions for L-1B. That is why employers prefer to file petitions for H-1B.
The employers shall take out some time to calculate their non immigrant population and shall also determine which employee shall apply for the fiscal year 2017 H-1B limit.
