Understanding H1B Visa - Please advice

[shahid-h 0]

Hello all

I'm hoping someone is able to help answer some of my questions and point me in right direction.

I'm a British national living in UK, with a BSc (Hons) degree and over 14 years experience in IT. I've been working with my current employer for almost 10 years who also have offices in US. We are looking to see what is the best visa and solution for me to move to USA. US side of the firm are willing to offer me a job.

My in-laws live in USA and are US nationals. This is not directly related to my query but worth mentioning.

I am married with 2 children, aged 4 and 9.

This is my understanding so far.

My employer in US need to apply LCA which takes apporx 7 days and has no fee.

My employer in US than files I-129. Fee is $325.

I-129 takes approx 2 months to process, once complete, I apply for US visa in London.

Can someone confirm if the I-129 fee is for the application or per person ?

How long does the visa processing take in London ?

The documents I need to submit, will I send normal photocopies or certified copies of all originals ?

My wife birth and our marriage certificate are not in English. We have translations. Do we send photocopies of original translations, do these documents need to be certified by anyone particular?

For my education, would I only need to send photocopy of my degree, or do I also send certificates of my diplomas etc from college and high schools?

Other than fees for the I-129 and the visa application fees for all 4 of us, are there any other fees? I'm trying to see what the total costs would be for myself and for my employer?

I don't fully understand the visa caps etc. Is H1B visa open to be applied at any time or would it need to be applied at any particular times?

Is H1B still the best visa for me?

Thank you for reading my post and I truly hope someone can shed some light on few things where I'm unclear.

Pls let me know if anything is unclear or you require any further details. Hope for some replies soon.

Have a great day.

[kzielu 1,149]

All your questions should really be taken care of by company lawyer.

H-1B is subject to numerical quota limits. Until it's reached, they're available. Application period starts April 1st and last year they stopped taking applications after 5 days (I think) - they took 120k of them and it ended up being a lottery. Visas are given out starting Oct 1st.

Bottom line - if your employer misses the Apr 1st boat (in 12 days), then earliest time you can get H-1B (unless it's quota exempt) is Oct 2015.

[Boiler 45,525]

L seems more obvious.

[jan22 3,056]

L seems more obvious.

Not unless he's an executive level manager or has some specialized knowledge -- often hard for IT folks to claim specialized knowledge that rises to the level the law rquires.

[shahid-h 0]

As far as cap is concerned, we won't be applying in April so does that mean it's a matter of time before they'll stop taking applications this year and we would have to apply 1st April 2015 ?

Is L-1 also dual-intent like H1B ?

Can I aply for green card whilst on L visa ?

My wife's parents and brother/sisters are US nationals. How long does the family based visas take ?

[Boiler 45,525]

Yes

Yes

Yes, well you do not, it can be applied for.

Check the Visa Bulletin, 7 years?

I doubt very much if you are a British National, or they are US Nationals.

[kzielu 1,149]

As far as cap is concerned, we won't be applying in April so does that mean it's a matter of time before they'll stop taking applications this year and we would have to apply 1st April 2015 ?

Is L-1 also dual-intent like H1B ?

Can I aply for green card whilst on L visa ?

My wife's parents and brother/sisters are US nationals. How long does the family based visas take ?

Yes - last time it was literally 5 days or less.

L1 is dual intent, work visas are completely independent from green cards though and you can't apply for it - employer can (or your spouse if happen to be US citizen). H-1B or L-1B makes absolutely no difference from that point of view.

[shahid-h 0]

@ Boiler - I am a British citizen living in UK holding British passport, as is my wife. However, it is my in-laws who reside in USA and are US citizens with US passports.

So I suppose me along with my employer need to identify if H1B or L is better suited.

It sounds me moving to US definately won't happen this year.

Does L visas have same cap timings as H1B?

Are there any other options, For instance, doing a job transfer from UK to USA? Is this something different to H1B and L visas ?

Thanks everyone who have replied, much appreciated !

[kzielu 1,149]

L visas have no cap but have requirements that H don't.

There's no job transfer. Either work visa or green card sponsorship.

[Boiler 45,525]

That is what I thought, a National is something different.

Job Transfers are usually accomplished with a L Visa. Not your call, the Employer is the one that decides, you decide if you want to go though on whatever basis they propose.

[aussie_jason 195]

A good immigration lawyer should easily be able to provide evidence for a L1B to be approved for someone with extensive IT experience like the OP, however the path to a green card is not as easy on an L1B as it is on a L1A but to qualify for an L1A the OP would have to be a high level manager.

[calvm 10]

Hello all

I'm hoping someone is able to help answer some of my questions and point me in right direction.

I'm a British national living in UK, with a BSc (Hons) degree and over 14 years experience in IT. I've been working with my current employer for almost 10 years who also have offices in US. We are looking to see what is the best visa and solution for me to move to USA. US side of the firm are willing to offer me a job.

My in-laws live in USA and are US nationals. This is not directly related to my query but worth mentioning.

I am married with 2 children, aged 4 and 9.

This is my understanding so far.

My employer in US need to apply LCA which takes apporx 7 days and has no fee.

My employer in US than files I-129. Fee is $325.

I-129 takes approx 2 months to process, once complete, I apply for US visa in London.

Can someone confirm if the I-129 fee is for the application or per person ?

How long does the visa processing take in London ?

The documents I need to submit, will I send normal photocopies or certified copies of all originals ?

My wife birth and our marriage certificate are not in English. We have translations. Do we send photocopies of original translations, do these documents need to be certified by anyone particular?

For my education, would I only need to send photocopy of my degree, or do I also send certificates of my diplomas etc from college and high schools?

Other than fees for the I-129 and the visa application fees for all 4 of us, are there any other fees? I'm trying to see what the total costs would be for myself and for my employer?

I don't fully understand the visa caps etc. Is H1B visa open to be applied at any time or would it need to be applied at any particular times?

Is H1B still the best visa for me?

Thank you for reading my post and I truly hope someone can shed some light on few things where I'm unclear.

Pls let me know if anything is unclear or you require any further details. Hope for some replies soon.

Have a great day.

As others said: H1B has around 65K cap subjected visa - applications start around April 12th for Oct of the same year. What it means is in case # of applicants exceed this - they will stop accepting applications after a certain point and will do lottery to select 65K people. Based on the past precedent typically more than enough # of people have applied within a week of April 12th.

You may try L1 as well. If for whatever reason you miss H1B this year, you can directly try EB2 based green card. Which in my opinion is relatively easy once you qualify, you have a sponsoring company which is solid, and your birth country (citizenship country is irrelevantt), is NOT India or China.

Assuming you have been born in UK - and assuming your employer is willing to file a Employment Based green card petition you can qualify for EB2 since you have BS+14 years experience (unless you have a 3 yr BS degree - this will need more justification for equivalency) and this will take an yr or so in totality and can be a parallel process.

Cheers..!!