H-1B Filing Season Is Here!

H-1B Season is upon us once again! If you are an employer who intends to sponsor a first-time H-1B worker during the next federal fiscal year (i.e., starting October 1, 2015), we would strongly recommend filing your application on the very first day that the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) begins accepting them – April 1, 2015. For those unfamiliar with the process, USCIS grants 65,000 new H-1B visas per fiscal year to individuals possessing at least a bachelor’s degree in a specialty field and an additional 20,000 H-1B visas to individuals with master’s degrees from U.S. universities. In years when USCIS receives more H-1B petitions than available visas, any petitions filed after the cap is reached are rejected. However, if USCIS receives more petitions than the cap would allow during the first few filing days, then a lottery process is used to see which petitions are accepted for processing and which are rejected. In other words, file early! We encourage you to take stock of your H-1B needs now and get a jump on this year’s process. To discuss how your business may utilize H-1B visas, call Johnstone Adams at (251) 432-7682 or toll-free at (866) 732-3267, or visit our Website.