H1-B US Visa Application Period Begins Today, April 3rd

The application period for H1-B US visa petitions for fiscal year 2018 begins today, Monday, April 3rd, 2017.

H1-B is a popular non-immigrant visa program that grants high-skilled professionals especially in the tech industry visas to work in the US.  

A total of 85,000 H1-B visas are issued each year, with the cap normally being reached less than a week after the application period starts. The program allows US employers to employ foreign workers in specialty fields such as information technology, engineering and sciences that have shortages of qualified American workers.

U.S. President Donald Trump had pledged to make radical changes to the program to make it harder for U.S. companies to hire foreign workers, but so far no changes have been made to the program and the same rules that have been in effect for years apply.

Application qualifications and instructions are available at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.