H-1B Visas

H-1B Visa Facts At-a-Glance

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A visa program for professionals in specialty occupations was created in 1952 to provide American employers with access to highly educated foreign professionals who have unique knowledge in specialized areas. This program is now known as the H-1B visa.

• H-1B “specialty occupations” require at least a U.S. bachelor's degree or equivalent education and work experience. Many H-1B holders obtain their higher education degrees in the United States.

• H-1B visa professionals include physicians, physical therapists, teachers, scientific researchers, engineers, architects, lawyers, accountants, marketing experts and many others who provide direct services to Americans and who create jobs by developing new products and opening new markets for U.S. goods.

H-1Bs fill needs in a variety of professions, helping a variety of technology and knowledge-based industries remain innovative and keep their workforces globally competitive.

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security data shows that nearly 50 percent of all H-1B beneficiaries possess a bachelor’s degree or higher; 31 percent hold at least a master’s degree; 12 percent hold a doctorate degree; and 6 percent hold a professional degree¹.

• In FY 2003, 39 percent of H-1B petitions were for computer-related fields and 11 percent were for education-related occupations.

• Projections from the U.S. Department of Labor estimate that between 2002 and 2012 there will be two million job openings in the United States in the fields of computer science, mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences.

• According to the National Venture Capital Association, over the past 15 years, immigrants have started one in four U.S. public companies that were venture-backed, accounting for more than $500 billion in market capitalization and adding significant value to the American economy.

• The NEA reports that there were approximately 50,000 H-1B visa holders in education-related jobs during the 2002-2003 school year, of which about 29 percent were teaching in grades K-12.

The H-1B visa program is subject to a statutory cap.

• The H-1B visa cap is 65,000.  An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are available to graduates of U.S. universities with master’s or PhD degrees.  

• The FY 2008 cap was exhausted on the very first day applications were accepted.

• Since the FY 2008 cap has been hit, a variety of business sectors, medical facilities and educational institutions will be adversely impacted by the inability to hire H-1B workers. U.S. employers need predictability – something the current system does not provide.

• This is the ninth time since 1997 that the cap has been reached before the end of the fiscal year and the fourth year in a row that it has been reached on or before the start of the fiscal year.  (August 1997, May 1998, June 1999, March 2000, February 2004, October 2005, August 2005, May 2006, April 2007). 

The H-1B visa remains an important tool for hiring foreign nationals who receive their advanced degrees from U.S. universities.

• In many critical disciplines, particularly in math, science and engineering, 50 percent or more of the post-graduate degrees at U.S. universities are awarded to foreign nationals.  For example, in electrical engineering, 55 percent of master’s and 67 percent of PhD graduates of U.S. programs in 2005 were foreign students.

• It is counterproductive for the United States to train foreign scientists and engineers and then send them home to compete against American businesses.

U.S. companies hire H-1Bs only when necessary for very specific purposes.

• H-1B professionals constitute a low percentage of the U.S. workforce. During the economic boom of 2001, when H-1B usage was at its height, these temporary professionals still accounted for only about one-tenth of one percent of U.S. non-farm employment.

• Recent studies indicate that the United States’ advantage in retaining the best talent seems to be shifting, in part due to the liberalized immigration polices of many European countries, Australia, Canada, China, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, which allow those countries to effectively attract and retain global talent.

To hire H-1B professionals, U.S. companies must meet strict criteria set by the U.S.
Department of Labor to protect American workers. Employers applying to hire an H-1B visa holder must:

• Provide wage protection, paying the higher of the actual or the prevailing wage.  The same benefits must also be provided.

• Pay an education and training fee of  $1500 ($750 for employers with less than 25 full-time employees).  This fee is to provide scholarships and to train U.S. workers.  Over the last eight years, U.S. employers have paid more than $1 billion in fees, funding more than 40,000 scholarships for U.S. students in math and science, supporting science programs for 75,000 middle and high school students and training more than 82,000 U.S. workers.

• Pay a $500 anti-fraud fee to fund the programs to prevent and detect H-1B visa fraud. 

• Notify its U.S. workforce of the hire and give them access to information about the wage and workforce protections.

• Provide workforce protections, guaranteeing the same working conditions and not hiring replacement workers during strikes.

• Employers failing to comply with these provisions are subject to monetary penalties of up to $35,000 and may be barred from hiring other foreign workers.

[1]Characteristics of Specialty Occupation Workers (H-1B) Fiscal Year 2003, U.S. DHS, Office of Immigration Statistics, July 2004.