If you happen to be a IT hiring manager or one of the IT contracting companies in USA and considering to import IT talent from overseas (for IT jobs in your company) then you are in the right place reading this article. When you consider IT staffing (as one of the technical staffing agencies) from abroad then your IT job specific foreign candidates are subject to H1B and certain other visa regulations. So, as an IT temp agency, you need to comply with these Visa regulations to get your hired IT staff to work and reside in USA. Here is some important information on H1B and visa regulations pertinent to IT staffing from abroad:
• The H1B visa is a form of, non-immigrant visa that can be acquired by non-US nationals. The application provides working visas for foreign qualified IT professionals who wish to work and reside in the USA.
• The regulation is restricted to qualified professionals carrying out the following area of expertise: mathematics, engineering, physical sciences, health, education and learning, medicine, law, enterprise, biotechnology.
• The length of stay permitted for a visa beneficiary is minimum 3 years and the maximum 6 years. This pertains to all visa beneficiaries (except for certain specific situations).
• As a technical staffing service, your IT staffing would be required to petition for the employee to enter US (at least 6 months in advance). Your potential IT job applicant is not entitled to apply for a H1B in individual capacity.
• It is important to understand as an IT contracting company that H1B are restricted to first 85000 successful visa recipients each fiscal year. So, if you are seeking foreign IT staffing then you ought to place your visa applications early each fiscal year.
• Your potential IT job applicant must meet following criteria to be eligible for H1B visa:
- Bachelors or higher degree from an accredited university or institution (or equivalent in the specified field of specialty) or 12 years work experience or a mix of both
- Hold an unrestricted registration, license or certification that allows the individual to practice the specific profession or employment
- You are employing the applicant in one of the fields specified in the specialty list of occupations
- You must pay at least the minimum prevailing wage for the specific occupation in US
- The shortlisted IT job candidate must have a total of 12 points score to qualify for H1B visa requirement (3 points for each year of university education and 1 point for I year of experience at work)
• Please note that H1B visa (express track) can be processed in as little as 15 days at the cost of $1,225. A regular H1B visa (under the normal application processing time) can take anywhere between1-6 months to process.
• The information technology jobs sponsoring technical staffing services are responsible to process and obtain the necessary documentary formalities (LCA etc) to apply for H1B visa for the IT staffing purpose
• The shortlisted IT jobs candidates are eligible to take along their spouse and children in the H4 Visa category but they won’t have the legal permission o work. However, they can open a bank account, obtain driving license and attend school.
It is extremely important to understand the implications and restrictions H1B Visa regulations places on you as tech staffing services or IT contracting companies before you decide to hire foreigners for information technology jobs. You may go through the entire IT recruitment process and find yourself in a fix when it is the time to import the professionals from abroad (owing to Visa regulations).