Work visas in the United States

H1B visas

The American H1B work visa is a foreign tourist visa that allows an American company to hire a foreign worker for up to six years (June 2017). Applying for a non-immigration visa is usually faster than applying for an American Green Card. H1-B is popular because it is easier to obtain it than an immigration visa.

Quotas for H1B visas

H1B work visas are subject to annual quotas. In 2012, the government USA issued 129,000 H-1B visas. Most of all visas were received by immigrants from. India

For 2018, the quota is 85 thousand places.

Who is given H1B visas

The H1B visa is designed for entry into the country of specialists who will occupy jobs that require specialized knowledge. It is necessary that the bachelor's degree is also accompanied by experience in this specialty (this requirement can be applied if you have a 3-year degree and 3 years of the corresponding specialty of work experience after graduation).

A person without a higher formations can be hired on an H1B visa in USA if they can confirm that they are a specialist equivalent to a certified person based on experience of twelve or more years in a particular occupation industry.

H1B visas can only be requested by employers

People cannot individually obtain a work visa N1V to work in the United States. An entrepreneur who wants to hire an immigrating person must apply for the applicant to enter.

American entrepreneurs can start requesting an H-1B visa six months before the actual start date of the visa. Entrepreneurs can apply for the H-1B work visa immediately after April 1 for the fiscal year visa, which begins October 1, but the work visa will not be able to be issued before October 1.

H1B work visa legislation requires certain employers, called "H1B Worker Sponsoring Employers," to advertise a vacant place of work within the United States before applying for an H1B work visa for an employee who, upon their arrival in the United States, will occupy a given workplace.

Employers sponsoring an H1B work visa for an employee from abroad may be those entrepreneurs whose employees of companies have no more than 15% of employees who arrived in the United States on an H1B work visa. In addition, new H1B visa applications and the first visa renewal must be paid US $1,000 (in addition to regular visa processing fees) to be used to fund the Permanent American Worker Training Program.

A company that brought an employee to the United States on an H1B work visa must fire him before the visa expires. The Company is responsible for any reasonable costs incurred by the employee in moving back to his last permanent residence. This condition applies only to certain set costs when a worker is fired.

Visa Validity Period and Green Card

An initial visa can be obtained for up to three years. It can be extended for the first time for two years, then for another year. Thus, the maximum possible visa validity period is 6 years. Those who wish to stay in the US for more than 6 years, with a valid H1B visa, can ask for a permanent residence permit (Green Card). If such employees do not obtain permanent residence at the end of the six-year period, they must be outside the United States for at least one year before applying for a Type H or L visa.

2013 immigration reform

Since the summer of 2012, the US government has been discussing an immigration reform project that should make it easier to obtain green cards and H1-B work visas for immigrants moving to the United States to work in the engineering industry. By attracting labor from abroad, it is planned to fill the shortage of qualified personnel, the graduation of which American universities cannot cope with.

In May 2013, the United States Senate Legal Committee approved, by a vote of 13-5, an extensive package of bills to change the visa regime for entering the United States to seek employment. The bills are approved by the Committee with an important amendment easing restrictions on companies wishing to invite highly skilled employees from abroad on an H1-B work visa. The amendment was introduced by representatives of both American parties - Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Orrin Hatch. Under the original bill relating to H1-B, the limit on the number of visas issued to the U.S. in a single year was 65,000. Now this number has almost tripled - from 65,000 to 180,000.

The current version, in addition, removes some of the requirements for American companies hiring foreign engineers and programmers. Initially, the bill provided that employers have the right to invite a foreign employee on a work visa only if they are able to prove that there was no suitable candidate from among US citizens for this position.

Now this requirement has been removed for a significant part of American companies. Proving that the vacancy was first offered to American candidates will only have to those companies where foreigners make up more than 15% of the state - the so-called "H1-B dependent" (a term introduced by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service in 2000).

The Schumer-Hatch Compromise, as the American press calls the amendment, removed another limitation of the original bill: previously, a company that refused a place to an American employee was prohibited from applying for an H1-B visa to a foreigner within 90 days. Thanks to the amendment, it now does not apply to companies that employ less than 15% of foreign employees.

The amendment marks a major victory for the American tech sector, actively lobbying for changes to immigration law and equally actively protesting any restrictions that make hiring difficult. Silicon Valley argues that the introduction of additional restrictions on the hiring of engineers and programmers slows the growth and innovative development of the American IT-Business^[1].

New 2017 H1B Visa Guidelines

In April 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new H1-B work visa guidelines that tightened requirements for visa applicants. From now on, programmers wishing to work in the United States under the H1-B program must prove that they are actually programmers. The changes will entail an increase in the package of submitted documents and the general bureaucratization of the procedure, wrote The Times of India.

The new management entered into force on the eve of the drawing of 85 thousand visas for 2018. It was expected that it would hit primarily IT specialists of Indian origin and outsourcing companies that employ them, such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro.

Management revokes the document titled "H1-B Computer Related Workplaces Memo." The memo was compiled by Terry Way, former director of the H1-B Request Processing Service Center in Nebraska. The document entered into force in December 2000. USCIS believes that it no longer reflects the department's policy on the visa issue.

Wei's memo was based on the 1998-1999 and 2000-2001 revision of the U.S. Handbook of Professional Prospects. Many computer-related professions were in transition at the time, and the overall system of IT specialties had changed significantly by 2017, USCIS said. Wei's memo required an H1-B applicant to grant a bachelor's degree or higher in one of the specialties listed in the Handbook of Professional Prospects. USCIS believes that this is not enough, so henceforth the H1-B applicant must provide other than a diploma evidence that the degree he received "in computer science" really refers to programming.

Wei's memo makes no particular distinction at all between work directly related to code writing and testing and ancillary IT specializations. Because of this, H1-B applicants who hold an associate's degree (below bachelor's) could apply for jobs of any complexity, including those related directly to programming. USCIS is going to end this by drawing a clear distinction between "entry level" jobs and positions that require a certain qualification. In the first case, the work will not be considered at all as a visa IT specialty, and in the second case, a bachelor's degree and above will be required.

That is, in order to obtain a visa, the applicant must prove that his future work is more "complex, specialized and unique" in comparison with other work in the same industry. One such evidence may be a certain level of salary that the employer offers him. Also, the candidate will have to describe the level of complexity of his job duties, the degree of concentration in their implementation, the level of judgments that the work requires, and the degree of understanding of the workflow. And to prove that all this is more difficult and necessary than other activities in the same industry.

The revision of the procedure for issuing an H1-B visa is a fulfillment of the campaign promise of President Donald Trump (Donald Trump), who intends to return to the Americans jobs occupied by foreign IT specialists. The presidential decree that changed the principles of H-1B distribution among applicants was issued in January 2017. The USCIS leadership implemented the main provisions of this decree.

Perhaps in the future, other changes will be made to the procedure for issuing visas. Even during the election campaign, Trump, together with Senator Jeff Sessions, prepared a bill that was supposed to significantly increase the cost of the H-1B visa for applicants.

Speaking in February 2016 in Alabama, Trump introduced two former Disney IT employees to the audience, whom management replaced with foreigners. Dena Moore and Leo Perrero told attendees that before they were fired, they were forced to train their changers who arrived on an H-1B visa.

In January 2016, these employees filed a lawsuit against Disney and two IT outsourcers - HCL and Cognizant, accusing them of conspiring to fire American workers. The lawsuit was annulled by the U.S. Federal Court. However, in December 2016, another lawsuit was filed against Disney, in which former employees of the IT department accused the company of discrimination on national and racial grounds.

According to the plaintiffs, in October 2014, Disney management began implementing a plan to attract outsourcing companies to carry out a number of IT processes. After that, the composition of IT specialists in Disney offices changed significantly - the number of employees from South Asia increased. In this regard, in January 2015, about 250 Disney IT specialists were fired^[2].

H2B visa

As of June 2017, the programmer can work in the United States and on a non-immigrant visa H2-B. It is issued for one year, can be extended to three years. Its inconvenience lies in the fact that during registration a certificate is required confirming that employees from the United States do not apply for the desired position. Obtaining such a certificate is a laborious process.

STEM visas

In September 2012, Lamar Smith, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas and a leading legislator on immigration, had to approve a bill introducing special STEM visas for green card lottery participants. Visas to the United States for specialists who have degrees in the so-called "STEM fields" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Matematics). Under the new law, called STEM Jobs Act, the first 55,000 visas participating in the diversification lottery will be purposefully issued to participants with a technical background.

A STEM visa applicant must have a PhD or Master of Engineering degree awarded by an American university. Distance education received via the Internet is allowed, but upon receipt, the participant must be physically present in the United States.

Some degree holders will not be considered. Only specialists who have earned doctor's or master's degrees at universities officially accredited for issuing degrees and are actively engaged in research activities are allowed to participate in the STEM visa drawing. This is done in order not to allow "diploma factories" to profit from the program.

Priority when issuing visas is given to specialists who have doctoral degrees. The remaining unused visas will be distributed to participants with master's degrees.

In September 2012, it was assumed that employers should apply for a visa on behalf of candidates. A U.S. employer who wants to hire a foreign national and obtain a green card for them must go through a labor certification process to prove that there are no qualified U.S. citizen candidates for the job in question. An invited employee who has received a visa will have to work for at least 5 years for this employer or in the related technical field^[3].

A list of employers inviting tech professionals to the U.S. on a STEM visa will be published openly on the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department will also maintain a list of foreigners who have received STEM visas, listing their professions.

To pass, the STEM visa bill had to be approved by both parties - Republican and Democratic. In the Democratic part of Congress, there were fears that the new law could conflict with other norms of immigration law - in particular, with the DREAM Act of 2001, which currently issues residence permits to foreigners receiving degrees from US colleges.

The Republican Party pushing the legislation, in turn, has gained extensive support from the technology and science sectors. Leaders at 165 American universities, including Stanford and MIT, signed an open letter supporting the STEM bill.

Proponents of STEM legislation argue that scientifically trained technicians are in demand worldwide, and the United States is fighting for them. STEM Jobs Act will be another option that the United States offers in order to attract qualified personnel to its technology industry - along with the H-1B visa program, which has 20,000 temporary work visas for immigrants who have received scientific degrees from US universities as of September 2012.

L-1 visa

The United States L1 visa is a work visa for foreign tourists that allows companies operating both in the United States and abroad to transfer certain classes of employees to work in the United States for up to 7 years. An employee had to work in a branch or office of an American company outside the United States for at least one year for the previous three years.

Companies operating in the U.S. can apply to the local branch of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Administration (BCIS) for an L1 work visa to transfer the worker to the U.S. from an overseas office. Employees in this category will initially be provided with a L-1 work visa for up to three years.

Workers who can obtain a L1 work visa:

Managers/Managers

The legal definition of management and executive roles for this purpose is very strict, and a detailed description of the duties related to the performance of work duties at this workplace is required. In particular, the manager or manager must monitor and be responsible for the actions of the professional staff and/or for the key function, department or division of the entrepreneur. Such personnel receive a L1A visa, initially for a three-year period with the right to extend for up to 7 years.

Specialized-educated workers

This category includes employees who are familiar with the company's products and services, research, systems, special technologies, management and production. Employees from this section can obtain a work visa L1B initially for a three-year period with the right to extend the visa for up to 5 years.

At the end of the maximum permissible period, according to the status of the L-1 visa, the employee will have to work at the branch of the firm outside the United States of America at least one year before a new application for the status of L or H is made.

Impact of visas on economic processes

2022: Massive layoffs of IT professionals with work visas begin in the US

On November 21, 2022, it became known that in the United States there are massive layoffs of IT specialists who came to the country on work visas. Employees who have fallen under the reduction are forced to urgently look for a new place of work or return to their homeland.

We are talking about the H-1B visa: this is a non-immigrant visa that is intended for foreign specialists with at least a bachelor's degree and a job offer from a company in the United States. The document makes it possible to work in the United States for a limited period of time.

Thousands of IT professionals who came to the US on work visas were left without work and now have to return to their homeland

The American tech industry has long relied on the H-1B visa program to meet its worker needs in specialized fields such as computer science and engineering. It is estimated that in the last three years alone, giants such as Amazon, Lyft, Meta (recognized as an extremist organization; activities in Russia are prohibited), Salesforce, Stripe and Twitter, invited at least 45 thousand foreign workers.

However, due to the current geopolitical situation, a wave of layoffs swept through the US IT industry, affecting specialists with H-1B visas. For example, Meta and Twitter have recently cut approximately 350 workers. Many of these professionals have mortgages, student loans and children in school. Now they are forced to frantically look for work along with thousands of other technical staff.

According to the US Department of Labor, the average salary of an employee with an H-1B visa is $106 thousand per year. But specialists from leading technology companies earn much more. Thus, the average salary of an H-1B employee in Meta, Salesforce and Twitter reaches $175 thousand per year, not counting large bonuses and options. Some of the dismissed employees will have to leave the United States without work.^[4]

2019: US work visa refusals rise 9-fold. IT companies open offices in Canada and Mexico

By the end of May 2019, the number of refusals to issue H-1B work visas in the United States increased 9 times. Canada and Mexico have become centers of alternative development for IT service companies, but these are only temporary measures, and the difficult problem facing employers requires a long-term and reliable solution.

Donald Trump's protest against H-1B visas has had a radical impact on the business models of Indian IT firms. The work visa denial rate for the top 6 companies (TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant and HCL Technologies) fluctuated within 4% on average in 2015. However, the figure soared to 36% between September 2018 and April 2019. Even global IT companies such as Accenture and Deloitte with embedded offshore models have been hit by their reliance on work visas.

In May 2019, the Trump administration launched the process of depriving work permits for spouses of owners of American H-1B work visas

Tightening the criteria used to issue the H-1B visa, scrutinizing applicants and their qualifications, as well as visits to workplaces all contributed to a sharp reduction in visa issuance and forced IT executives to look for new ways to serve their customers in the United States (making up up up to 60-70% of their business).

One positive change for American technology professionals is the fact that these changes have forced IT companies to actively train and recruit American citizens. Almost all major IT companies have opened innovation centers and campuses and recruited tens of thousands of candidates.

But that still doesn't solve the gap between middle and senior. Kotak Institutional Equities Research has presented a report that talented entry-level professionals are needed and available, but they cannot participate in the knowledge transfer or project initiation phase. In other words, mid- and senior-level professionals - experienced consulting engineers who can lead flexible teams - are required to perform optimally. However, they are simply not among those specialists who are allowed to work in the United States.

One of the options for an immediate solution to the problem is to move offices to Canada and Mexico in order to use talented specialists from there. For example, Tech Mahindra announced that it will create a center for advanced technology in Canada, investing $100 million in it. Similarly, mid-size IT company Hexaware said it would use its Mexican hub to serve U.S. customers.

Outsourcing to near abroad has a serious impact on the company's operating costs, but this is the best option after outsourcing from India. In addition, the TN visa for Mexican and Canadian skilled workers is a valuable tool by which IT companies can attract new employees without burdening themselves with the stringent requirements of H-1B cards.

In 2019, H-1B visas are issued in a modified manner. Previously, separate two quotas were allocated: the first for foreign workers with higher education (65 thousand people), the second for graduates of American colleges with a master's degree and PhD (20 thousand people). From April 1 of this year, there is no more such division

But here, too, there are limitations. Despite the fact that outsourcing in the near abroad makes it easy to find specialists, engineers who go to the United States on a work visa are not allowed to do any profitable work in the United States. In other words, relying on outsourcing in near abroad cannot be a long-term solution to the current crisis.

This means that at the moment, IT companies that rely on hiring employees with H-1B visas to implement the project will have to look for new ways to do business. As Accenture's example has shown, even IT leaders still rely heavily on the offshore component. The only question is how long they will be able to cover the high costs associated with H-1B refusals without compromising the services provided.^[5]

2018: Trump vs. IT outsourcers. U.S. work visa issuance falls to 7-year low

In April 2018, it became known that the number of H-1B visas issued in the United States had decreased to a minimum of 7 years ago. Because of this, foreign (mainly Indian) IT outsourcing companies are primarily affected.

President Donald Trump proposed to revise the program for the distribution of temporary work visas that were provided to highly qualified employees from abroad. The statements of the American leader do not provide for immediate changes in the procedure for issuing work visas, but Trump calls on the relevant state bodies to study the current legislation and make recommendations for its revision.

In April 2018, it became known that the number of H-1B visas issued in the United States decreased to a minimum of 7 years ago

Separate prescriptions relate to the non-immigrant H-1B visa, which allows educated foreign professionals - mainly in the IT field - to work in the United States for up to six consecutive years in positions that local workers have failed to close. H-1B visa holders can even submit an application for permanent residence in the United States. The visa application must be sponsored by the employer. He enters into contracts with banks, medical companies and other enterprises to solve various problems in the IT sphere.

Earlier, in 2015, then-US President Barack Obama expanded the program, allowing spouses of foreign professionals to also work in the United States. However, Donald Trump proposed to consider changes under which visas will be issued only to the most educated and highly paid migrants.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), in 2017, slightly more than 197,000 people received an H-1B work visa (the lowest figure since 2010), and applications were rejected in 80% of cases - usually this share was only 60%. From January 1 to April 7, 2018, 190,098 H-1B visa applications were submitted, which is 10 thousand less than in the same period of the previous year.

The next stage is the lottery, according to its results, 65 thousand specialists with a bachelor's degree and another 20 thousand foreign students who graduated from the master's degree will be selected. The release of Trump's new executive order will cause an even greater decline in the flow of statements. Particular concern in connection with these measures was expressed by IT companies - Wipro, TCS, Infosys - and the media in India, where about 70% of visa holders come from. Representatives of IT companies say that restricting the entry of highly educated migrants will deal a heavy blow to the high-tech industry.

The implementation of these measures is due to the abuse of visas, which are provided to poorly educated workers who are ready to work for less wages than American citizens. In addition, experts raise concerns about structural changes in the American workforce; in particular, many US-educated IT workers are unable to gain the start-up work experience needed to enter more complex technical roles as they are displaced by foreign professionals.

However, there is a possibility that the measures introduced by the president will not affect the balance of power: according to a study by the National Fund for American Policy, the reduction in the annual limit for H-1B in 2004 did not contribute to an increase in the share of employees born in the United States. Instead, the measures introduced simply reduced the proportion of highly skilled foreign professionals the U.S. economy desperately needed - and as a result, industry competition and product quality fell.

Trump's stance, however, is not the only factor influencing the issuance of H-1B. The fact is that the IT sector no longer needs simple infrastructure maintenance. Now highly educated specialists in the field of artificial intelligence, robotics and mobile applications are in demand. This model requires much less labor than the previous one.

In addition, the Indian IT system quickly responded to these changes by hiring relevant specialists in the United States - they not only have the necessary skills, but are also ready to focus on the client. Perhaps IT and migration services should completely revise the requirements for issuing visas so that highly qualified specialists from the United States and other countries can effectively work together, writes ZDNet.^[6]

2017: Reduced foreign recruitment in Silicon Valley

In August 2017, it became known that Silicon Valley companies began to recruit foreigners much less due to the immigration policy of US President Donald Trump.

As the Financial Times writes with reference to the hiring service Hired (specializes in IT specialties; collects data from more than 10 thousand companies), in the second quarter of 2017, the number of offers to undergo interviews in Silicon Valley companies for foreign specialists decreased by 37% compared to the same period in 2016. In the first quarter, the decline was measured at 46%.

Silicon Valley cuts foreign recruitment over Trump immigration policy

In turn, non-American applicants began to respond 4% less to requests from US technology companies.

CEO Mehul Patel believes that employers are in "limbo," fearing that Donald Trump will reduce the number of immigrants who may move to the United States. This exacerbates the already acute personnel shortage in the IT industry.

Such uncertainty leads to some helplessness, the expert notes.

In early August 2017, Trump introduced the RAISE bill, which changes the principles of the US immigration system - it becomes qualified when clear preference for immigration is given to educated, highly qualified people who speak good English. The bill would boost wages for American workers, reducing the influx of unskilled migrants. 

Experienced professionals are sought by both IT giants and start-ups, whose activities are funded by venture capitalists, Patel said. Companies are increasingly selecting several candidates for one position, assuming in advance that some of them will go to competitors.^[7]

2016: Rising the price of work visas. India raises IT prices

On January 12, 2016, it became known about the intentions of Indian IT outsourcers to raise prices for their services in response to an increase in the cost of work visas in the United States, which is the largest market for technology companies from India.

In December 2015, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to double the cost of paying for short-term H1B and L1 visas for foreign workers.

Expensive US visas force Indian IT companies to raise prices for their services

Every year, Indian outsourcing companies send thousands of their employees to the United States to work on the ground and generate approximately three-quarters of their revenue there. Taking into account innovations in American immigration policy, Indian IT companies will lose $400 million, according to software the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

As investors told Reuters, in order to compensate for additional losses, IT outsourcers registered in India will increase the cost of their services for customers and will work with them more remotely. Investors estimate that the increase in spending on U.S. work visas will reduce profit margins for IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys by 50 to 60 basis points.

IDBI Federal Life Insurance Chief Investment Officer Aneesh Srivastava says raising US visa processing fees is a challenge for Indian companies, but they can recoup some of the costs by renegotiating contracts and at the expense of a strong dollar.

The growing visa levy is baseless as it disproportionately hits Indian firms' businesses hard. Immigration reform in the United States will happen sooner or later, said Nasscom President R. Chandrasekhar.

At the same time, analysts say that Indian technology companies will already send fewer employees on business trips, as they pay more attention to digital services instead of projects to support IT infrastructures on the ground and software development.^[8]

Chronicle

2021: Dell has issued work visas to hundreds of foreign employees and pays them more than $200,000 a year

At the end of October 2021, it was reported that Dell had hired hundreds of new employees - from engineers and sellers to project managers and directors - on H-1B work visas. The salaries of most of the employees hired are in the low six-figure range. Read more here

2020: Suspension of the issuance of work visas

On June 22, 2020, US President Donald Trump suspended the issuance of work visas for which hundreds of thousands of IT specialists work in the country. The decree of the American leader applies to visas H-1B, H-2B, H-4, L-1 and some J-1 visas - they will not be issued until December 31, 2020 (extension of deadlines is possible). This does not apply to those who are already in the United States.

Temporary workers are often accompanied by their spouses and children, many of whom also compete with American workers. Under normal circumstances, properly organized temporary employment programs can benefit the economy. But in the extraordinary circumstances of the economic downturn caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19, some non-immigrant visa programs that allow such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers, the White House said in a statement.

Trump stopped issuing visas for which hundreds of thousands of IT specialists work

Several tech companies have protested that Trump executive order. So, Amazon said that the ban on entry into the country and assistance in restoring the US economy for highly qualified specialists jeopardizes the country's global competitiveness.

Google noted that immigrants not only contributed to technological breakthroughs and the creation of new businesses and jobs, but also enriched the lives of Americans. America needs talents, since it needs to restore the economy, reports The Verge, citing a representative of the corporation.

The US authorities, having suspended the issuance of work visas, intend to free up jobs for their citizens. Americans will be spared from competition with foreigners amid the economic crisis due to the pandemic. The White House noted that by the end of 2020, Americans will have a choice of 525 thousand vacancies.^[9]

See also

United States of America (USA)

Notes