Hiring an H1B worker is a great choice for certain start-up companies. H1B worker can be the are ideal for companies in need of an employee with specialized professional skills. You’ll also open up the position to a larger pool of applicants. This will allow you to make a more informed hiring decision.
There are however a few factors to keep in mind before committing to hiring H1B employees.
1. Costs
The H1B petition has an initial fee of $460 dollars. Additionally there are several other fees that quickly rack up the cost of an H1B application. One such required additional fee is the fraud prevention fee, which will put you back $500 dollars.
There are additional optional fees too. For example, the premium processing fee. As you probably guessed, this fee expedites, USCIS’s processing of your H1B petition. This fee can set you back an additional $1440 dollars depending on when you file for the expedition.
All of this is so far is without even considering the hiring of an attorney.. Of course, you don’t have to hire an attorney and could DIY the entire application. However, we highly recommend that you do hire an attorney if possible.. There’s no guarantee that your petition will be successful and an attorney is probably the best person to give you the best chance of being successful.
Get in touch with us today, If you need help finding an attorney or want to simplify the entire H1B process.. Our completely free FastVisa Assist platform matches you with the ideal attorney for your case and provides you with unparalleled transparency into the application process.
2. Length of Stay
If your start-up is looking for a long term employee, by which we mean 5+ years, hiring a non-foreign worker may be the easiest option. An H1B worker can work for three years before filing to renew their H1B visa.
Comparatively, if your dead set on hiring a foreign worker, H1B is often times the best way to go. Other foreign work visas don’t even come close in terms of length of stay. For example the B-1, visa grants you six months, and the J-1, can sometimes grant you as little as one year. So in comparison, the H1B visa is definitely the best choice if you’re in need of a long term foreign worker.
3. The Lottery.
Earlier in this post, we briefly mentioned that there is no guarantee when you petition for an H1B visa. There is an annual limit of 85,000 approved H1B visa applications each year. There are also a lot of companies applying for an H1B visa. This is because an H1B visa is relatively easier to obtain than a B-1 or J-1 visa. In a given year the amount of filed H1B visa applications can be 3 times that of the annual limit.
Especially for start-ups, the H1B visa is very competitive. The larger companies have an easier time building a case supporting the need for an H1B worker. This means a huge portion of the annual limit is taken up by large technology companies and labor companies.
All this to say, start-up companies probably have the worst chance at being approved for an H1B visa but with the right system in place it’s definitely doable
4. Spend on an Attorney.
Building a strong case is the key to landing H1B work visa and that’s where attorneys come in.
Attorneys, among a plethora of other things, will be able to tell you what specific documents you need to put together in order to create a strong case. For example one of the pieces of evidence a startup can present is proving that a strong VC or accelerator is backing up your company.
This shows the USCIS that your funded or at least that other credible entities have faith that your company will make profits. Although the ability to pay is not a requirement in order to obtain an H1B visa a VC or accelerator can help USCIS officials look past any doubts they may have in that regard.
If you have any other questions regarding the H1B visa reach out to us today.
You can also check out our H1B FAQ blog post for Start-ups here.
