H-1B Visa
A nonimmigrant work visa allowing U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in "specialty occupations" that require at least a bachelor's degree, the primary visa for skilled tech, engineering, and professional workers.
H-1B Visa is a term from U.S. employment-based immigration — typically a step, document, or filing in the H-1B (or related visa) process. The definition here is the practical worker-facing meaning, anchored in the DOL and USCIS processes that produce the underlying data this site uses. Understanding H-1B Visa is part of reading H-1B sponsorship offers and the publicly-disclosed filing data defensibly. Each technical term in the H-1B process carries specific implications for workers — eligibility, timing, employer obligations, portability — and the worker-relevant interpretation often differs from the technical legal definition.
Each employer page on H1BTracker surfaces the specific H-1B Visa-relevant data for that company, so the general definition here translates into the concrete numbers on the per-company pages.
How It Works
The H-1B visa is the most common employment-based visa for skilled foreign workers. It allows a U.S. employer to sponsor a foreign national for a position that requires specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor's degree (or equivalent). The visa is valid for 3 years, extendable to 6 years. There is an annual cap of 65,000 new H-1B visas, plus an additional 20,000 for applicants with U.S. master's degrees or higher. Cap-exempt employers (universities, nonprofit research organizations, government research organizations) are not subject to the cap. In recent years, USCIS has received 3-4 times more registrations than available slots, making selection a lottery.
Related Terms
- Labor Condition Application (LCA), A DOL-certified form that employers must file before hiring an H-1B worker, attesting they will pay at least the prevailing wage and not adversely affect working conditions for U.S. workers.
- Prevailing Wage, The average wage paid to workers in a similar occupation in the same geographic area, employers must pay H-1B workers at least this amount to prevent undercutting U.S. wages.
- H-1B Lottery, The random selection process used when H-1B registrations exceed the annual cap of 85,000, determining which petitions USCIS will accept for processing.
- Specialty Occupation, A job that requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field, the threshold for H-1B eligibility.
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About This Definition
This definition is part of the H1BVisaTracker H-1B Visa Glossary, 26 terms explaining H-1B sponsorship, work visas, and employment-based immigration in the United States. Written for international workers, employers, and immigration professionals.