US Work Visas 3-22-24

H-1B visas are for people in a specified professional or academic field or with special expertise who have a college degree or higher or the equivalent in work experience. These visas have a residency cap of three years.

Eligibility:

A job offer from a U.S. employer for a role that requires specialty knowledge

Proof of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in that field

Your employer must show that there is a lack of qualified U.S. applicants for the role 

H-2A and H-2B visas are for seasonal, or peak load, temporary workers in an agriculture (H-2A) or non-agricultural (H-2B) setting. Generally, these do not extend beyond a year.

Those with the right job skills — and their spouses and children — can apply for the roughly 140,000 employment-based green cards available each year. Permanent residence in the U.S. can be obtained through the right combination of education, expertise, eligibility, and skill set. Most of these visas call for an existing offer of employment from an employer who has the proper U.S. Department of Labor certification, verifying that there are both insufficient workers with this skillset within the United States, and the hiring does not take a job away from a U.S. citizen. Called “labor certification,” this is done through ETA Form 9089 (“Application for Permanent Employment Certification”).

https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/business/types-of-us-work-visas/

H-1B Electronic Registration Process

Cap Fiscal Year       Total Registrations    Selections

2021                         274,237                       124,415

2022                         308,613                       131,924

2023                         483,927                       127,600

2024                         780,884                       188,400

Comments

I used the H1b Visa system to recruit my first engineer. He was from India and completed his BSEE in the US. I have worked with US companies to recruit engineers who required the H1b process. In the 1990s, Firearms Training Systems hired Chinese Software Engineers on campus. They were hand picked to complete their BSEE to become part of China’s space program. The program stalled and many of them got permission to get their MSEE in the US. We hired them and they were successful in advancing the FATS simulator. They became US citizens and still work at FATS.

I have noticed the use of H1b visas to recruit nurses. One nurse from Ethiopia came over with her husband who was a Software Developer.

I used the H2b system to recruit a trained Mexican stone grinder maintenance tech. In both cases, the company sponsored the employee and paid all legal fees.

I believe the H2a temporary agricultural worker process is workable. The H-2A program expanded in FY23. DOL certified 13,500 applications to fill 212,000 jobs with H-2A workers in the first two quarters of FY23, up from 12,000 applications to fill 193,000 jobs with H-2A workers in the first half of FY22, up 10 percent. Aug 25, 2023. Google Search

Overall employment of agricultural workers is projected to decline 2 percent from 2022 to 2032. Despite declining employment, about 115,700 openings for agricultural workers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Google Search

H2A workers receive $15 per hour to $20 per hour based on State rates.

https://flag.dol.gov/wage-data/adverse-effect-wage-rates

Housing: Employers must provide housing at no cost to H-2A workers and to workers in corresponding employment who are not reasonably able to return to their residence within the same day.

The cost to the farmer to hire H2A workers is $100 plus $10 per worker.

H2B Visas use to be for Technicians and now it’s for Non-Agricultural Workers. But the requirement that employers cannot find qualified US citizens has caused these to decline.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader