H1b Cap Exempt: What is it and Other Things to Know about It

H1B is a type of visas designed for employees who come to the US to do professional jobs that have been regulated before. To fulfill this requirement, the employee is required to have a bachelor’s degree or above. For the title or major, it depends on the type of jobs looking for. Meanwhile, the H1B Cap Exempt is dedicated to answering around 65,000 petitions to foreign workers with qualified skills and education levels. Then, an additional 20,000 petitions is given for more advanced degrees like masters or doctors.

All foreign workers are eligible to get the H1B cap exempt as long as they fulfill the requirements mentioned above. The requirements are mainly about their education levels; the bachelor’s degree or above. Sure, it also depends on the vacancy opened in the country; it is the US whether a certain major is needed or not at a particular time period. It is also possible for people without those education levels to get the visa as long as they are specially invented by a company or institution to work with them.

There are some groups of H1B Cap exempt candidates.

•  For domestic prospective workers, it is for new employees only. So, if workers have lived in the US for 6 years or more, they are not counted as the candidate.

•  Other candidates are workers who are currently living abroad and not being the H1b receiver before.

•  Students in their post-completion period in the college

•  Beneficiaries who have received employment offers at institutions of higher education

•  Spouse and children of H-1B beneficiaries

•  Some Applicants from Chile & Singapore

The main benefits of cap-exempt filing are preventing the receiver or beneficiary to always obtain the H1B visa every year. In other words, it becomes more effective to do the cap-exempt filing since you can just work in the US for six years without problems. The process of an immigrant to get a job in the US can be long and complex. With the cap-exempt filing, in general, it is getting easier. The requirements are also fewer as the worker will help by the related institutions.

There are at least 6 categories of H-1B cap-exempt; they are the domestic, living-abroad, students in F-1 status, candidates with employment offers, spouse and children, and applicants from Chile and Singapore. Domestic candidates refer to foreign people who have lived in the US but without the H1b visa before. In case, they can get the visa H1B, it is possible as long as they are eligible with other requirements. Second, the living-abroad candidate must be granted H-1B non-immigrant status while living abroad currently.

Meanwhile, students in F-1 status must complete their STEM degree and have been in their post-completion period. Some candidates are also them who have offered jobs from a certain company, institutions, and higher education.

Next, the spouse and children of the H-1B beneficiary automatically gets similar treatments also. The children themselves must not be married and under 21 years old. Lastly, there is a trade agreement with Chile and Singapore. This way, Chile receives up to 1,400 H1b visas while Singapore receives 5,400 visas.

The normal process takes maximum of 4 months. But for the premium process, it takes less than that, around 15 days with some additional terms and conditions. However, it is important to note that the premium processing feature only expedites the speed at which the USCIS processes your I-129 petition. It does not increase your chances of being accepted for the lottery and it does not make you cap-exempt.

An H-1B transfer allows individuals with H-1B visa status, or previous H-1B visa status, to transfer to a different employer. In order for the H-1B visa holder to change employers, the new employer is required to submit an H-1B Visa Transfer petition with the USCIS. While it varies in some cases, processing for an H-1B transfer typically takes 4-8 weeks after the application has been submitted to USCIS. Other factors that affect the processing length is the location of employment and which USCIS processing center is responsible for the application.