Houston H Visas Lawyers

Guiding Our Clients Through this Legal Process

What Is an H Visa?

The H-1B visa is one of the more well-known and popular nonimmigrant visas available to aliens, designed to allow U.S. employers to recruit and employ foreign professionals who wish to perform services in a specialty occupation, services of exceptional merit and ability relating to a Department of Defense (DOD) cooperative research and development project, or services as a fashion model of distinguished merit or ability. In total, H-1B visa holders are allowed to legally work and live in the U.S. for up to 6 consecutive years.

Minimum Requirements

For the employee:

• Have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the specialty occupation from an accredited university.
• Hold a foreign degree which is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree or higher in the field of the specialty occupation.
• Hold an unrestricted state license registration or certification in the field of the specialty occupation in the intended state of employment.
• Have verifiable and recognized education, experience, or training in the specialty that is equivalent to the completion of a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Non citizens cannot self-petition for H-1B visas. Rather, employers serve as the petitioners, with their foreign workers as the beneficiaries.

For the employer:

• The position requires a specific course of study which relates directly to the position.
• The employer must assure that it will pay the H1B holder a comparable wage to other workers who have similar qualifications.
• The position offered requires knowledge, both theoretical and applied, which is almost exclusively obtained through studies at an institution of higher learning.