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For most professionals looking for a toehold in the United States, the H-1B is the go-to work visa, due to its favorable terms, including up to six years of work authorization for professional positions, with chances for indefinite extensions, built-in "dual intent" that makes it permissible to pursue permanent residence simultaneously, possible eventual work authorization for a spouse, and the simple lack of viable alternatives. Alas, its popularity creates its main downside: it is almost permanently oversubscribed, which has resulted in a lottery for the right to apply for an H-1B (with certain exceptions). This page maps the whole process: what qualifies, who files, what it costs, and the routes that avoid the lottery entirely.
The job must be a “specialty occupation” — a position that normally requires at least a bachelor’s degree in a specialty directly related to its duties. Common examples include software engineers, physicians, architects, accountants, teachers, financial analysts, scientists and lawyers. Since January 2025 the rules are stricter about the link between the degree and the duties: a general degree with no relevant specialization is no longer enough.
The worker must hold the degree the occupation requires (a U.S. degree, or a foreign degree evaluated as equivalent), an equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible experience, or, in some fields, the appropriate state license. Where a license is needed to practice, it generally must be issued before the petition can be approved — not merely applied for at the time of filing.
Two smaller H-1B sub-categories also exist: fashion models of distinguished merit or ability, and certain Department of Defense cooperative research project workers.
The employer, not the worker. The employer first obtains a certified Labor Condition Application from the U.S. Department of Labor, committing to pay at least the prevailing wage for that occupation and location, and then files a petition with USCIS. Once the petition is approved, a worker who is abroad applies for the visa at a U.S. consulate and is then admitted by Customs and Border Protection.
Usually three years at a time, up to a six-year total. Extensions beyond six years are available where an employment-based green card case is far enough along — either a labor certification or immigrant petition has been on file at least 365 days, or an approved petition is stuck behind per-country visa limits. One newer limit to note: a worker who owns more than 50% of the sponsoring company, or who holds majority voting rights in it, is limited to 18 months on the initial petition and 18 months on the first extension.
This is the part that surprises most people. Congress limits new H-1Bs to 65,000 a year, plus 20,000 reserved for graduates of U.S. master’s or higher programs. Because demand far exceeds supply, an employer cannot simply file a petition. It must first register each candidate electronically during a short window each spring (normally March) and pay a $215 registration fee per candidate. Only selected registrations may go on to a full petition, and employment starts on or after October 1.
Beginning with fiscal year 2027, selection is no longer purely random: USCIS now weights the lottery in favor of higher wage levels. Universities and their affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations are exempt from the cap and may file at any time, and a worker who already holds cap-counted H-1B status generally does not have to re-enter the lottery in order to change employers.
Government fees alone commonly run from roughly $1,700 to more than $3,400, depending on the employer’s size and nonprofit status, before optional premium processing. The main components are the petition fee ($780, or $460 for small employers and nonprofits), the Asylum Program Fee ($600, reduced to $300 for small employers and $0 for nonprofits), a $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection fee on most initial and change-of-employer petitions, and the ACWIA training fee of $1,500 or $750. Certain large employers whose U.S. workforce is more than half H-1B or L-1 owe a further $4,000.
Separately, a Presidential Proclamation issued in September 2025 sought to require a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B petitions filed for workers outside the United States. A federal court vacated the guidance implementing it in June 2026, and the government’s request for a stay was denied in July 2026, so it is not being collected at present — but the government has said it intends to collect it if that ruling is reversed. Please ask us for the current status before budgeting a case.
A spouse and unmarried children under 21 qualify for H-4 status, and some H-4 spouses can obtain work authorization. An H-1B worker may generally begin work for a new employer as soon as a proper petition is filed, rather than waiting for approval. A worker whose employment ends normally has up to 60 days to find a new sponsor, change status or depart, and the former employer is responsible for the reasonable cost of return transportation where it ended the employment.
Australian citizens have the E-3, and citizens of Chile and Singapore have the H-1B1. Both avoid the H-1B lottery, which can make them much faster. They also carry trade-offs, including shorter validity periods, more frequent renewals and no presumption that the holder may intend to immigrate.
The H-1B rewards planning that begins well before a petition is filed. Antao & Chuang works with sponsoring employers and with professionals on the calendar first — placing a candidate against the spring registration window, and against the graduation dates, status expiry dates and start dates around it, so that the window is a planned step rather than a deadline noticed too late — and then on the substance of the case: framing the position so that the specialty-occupation requirement is addressed on its own terms, matching the degree and its field to the duties, and working through the wage analysis that sits behind the Labor Condition Application. Where a registration is selected, the firm prepares the petition to USCIS, and it handles the change-of-employer, amendment and extension filings that follow as a role, a worksite or an employer changes.
Not every H-1B case has to pass through the lottery, and part of the work is identifying the ones that do not: employment with an institution of higher education, with a nonprofit related to or affiliated with one, or with a nonprofit or governmental research organization sits outside the cap, as does a worker who has already been counted against it. Antao & Chuang, which has many years of experience in U.S. immigration matters, also handles the family filings, including the narrow route by which an H-4 spouse may seek work authorization, and advises on the questions that only appear later — how the six-year clock is counted, when an extension beyond it is available because an employment-based permanent residence case has reached a qualifying stage, and when the H-1B is the right platform precisely because permanent residence, rather than a temporary stay, is the objective.
H-1B timing is unforgiving, and missing a March registration window can cost a year. If you are an employer planning to sponsor, or a professional weighing the H-1B against the other routes described on this page, we would be glad to hear from you — ideally well before the next cap season. A short account of the position, the credentials behind it and the dates you are working toward is usually enough to start. Where we conclude that representation by this firm is appropriate for the matter, we will explain how we would propose to proceed. To start that conversation, Contact us.
There are a number of exemptions from the H-1B lottery. Employers exempt from the annual cap — institutions of higher education, nonprofits related to or affiliated with them, and nonprofit or governmental research organizations — may file at any time under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(F), and a worker who has already been counted against the cap within the six-year period generally does not need a new cap number in order to change employers. Separately, citizens of Australia have the E-3, and citizens of Chile and Singapore the H-1B1, each with its own allocation and no lottery. Which of these is realistic turns on the employer, the position and the worker’s nationality rather than on preference.
More detail: H-1B cap exemptions and alternatives to the lottery
Only in limited circumstances. A spouse and unmarried children under 21 qualify for H-4 status, but H-4 status does not by itself carry permission to work: employment authorization is available only where the H-1B principal has reached a defined stage on the path to permanent residence — broadly, an approved employment-based immigrant petition, or an extension granted beyond the six-year limit on the strength of a pending permanent residence case. Even then the spouse must apply and be approved before starting work, under 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(26). That is a real difference from the E-3, where a spouse’s authorization comes with the status itself.
Yes, and in general you do not have to wait for the new petition to be approved. Under INA 214(n) (8 U.S.C. 1184(n)), a worker who was lawfully admitted may begin employment with a new employer as soon as that employer files a non-frivolous petition, provided the petition is filed before the current authorized period of stay expires and the worker has not been employed without authorization since that admission. Portability is permission to start work, not an approval: if the petition is later denied, the authorization that rested on it ends. Because the conditions are tested as at the filing, the conservative sequence is to have the new petition on file before leaving the current position.
There is a grace period, but it is discretionary rather than an entitlement. Under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), an H-1B worker and dependents are not treated as having failed to maintain status solely because the employment ceased, for up to 60 consecutive days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, and it is available once during each authorized validity period. It is a window in which to find a new sponsor, change status or depart. One caution: a Department of Homeland Security proposal to eliminate this grace period is pending as of mid-2026, so the area is unsettled and the current position should be confirmed before it is relied on.
Yes — six years is the general limit. Under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(A), a worker who has spent six years in the United States in H or L status may not extend, change to or be readmitted in those classifications without first spending the required period abroad. Two qualifications matter in practice: under USCIS policy, time spent in H-4 or L-2 status is not counted against the H-1B six years, so the clock measures time held in the principal classification; and extensions beyond six years are available where an employment-based permanent residence case has reached a qualifying stage, under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D) and (E). Which of those grounds applies, and from when, depends on how far the permanent residence case has progressed.
Often, yes, and it is a choice rather than an automatic result. A worker who has been outside the United States for a year without having used the full six years may either start afresh, subject to the cap and a new cap number, or use what remains of the earlier six-year period, which does not require a new cap number. Time spent physically outside the United States during the validity of an H-1B petition may be recaptured under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(C), and it is the petitioning employer’s burden to identify and document the specific days claimed. Which route is better usually turns on how much time remains and on whether a cap number would be available when it is needed.
Yes. The H-1B is a dual-intent classification: under 8 U.S.C. 1184(h), the fact that a worker is the beneficiary of an immigrant petition, or has otherwise sought permanent residence, is not evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence — for the visa application, for an extension or change of status, and for admission. A permanent residence case can therefore run alongside H-1B status rather than against it. That is much of the reason the H-1B is the platform of choice where permanent residence, rather than a period of authorized work, is the objective.
This is unsettled, and the position may not be the same by the time a case is filed. A presidential proclamation issued in September 2025 conditioned certain entries under the regular H-1B on a $100,000 payment, and it was stated to run for twelve months from September 21, 2025 absent extension. In June 2026 a federal district court vacated the agency guidance implementing the payment, and the government is appealing that ruling, but the government’s request for a stay was denied in July 2026, so the $100,000 payment is not being collected at present — although the government has said it intends to collect it if that ruling is reversed. Because the area is moving, the current status should be checked before it is relied on either way.
This page is general information about U.S. immigration law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration rules, numerical limits and procedures change often, and some H-1B rules are currently being litigated. The law described here was reviewed in August 2026; please confirm the current position, or contact us, before acting on anything on this page.