Work visa United States
H-1B Specialty Occupations
Run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Graduates with a U.S. employer willing to sponsor them for a job that needs a bachelor's degree in a related field. Most employers must win the annual registration selection first. The FY 2027 cap is already reached; the FY 2027 registration ran March 4 to March 19. Nationals of Burkina Faso, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan are under a full visa suspension under Proclamation 10998 and cannot be issued this visa.
- Job offer
- Required. A U.S. employer registers you and files Form I-129 with a certified Labor Condition Application.
- Language
- Not stated on the official page
- Education
- A U.S. bachelor's or higher degree in a directly related specialty, or a foreign equivalent, or an unrestricted state license, or education, training and experience equal to that degree.
- Work experience
- Not required if you hold the degree. Progressively responsible experience can count as an equivalent to the degree.
- Government fee
- Paid by the employer: registration USD 215 per beneficiary; Form I-129 USD 780 on paper or USD 730 online (USD 460 for a small employer or nonprofit); Asylum Program Fee USD 600 (USD 300 small employer, USD 0 nonprofit); Fraud Prevention and Detection fee USD 500; ACWIA fee USD 1,500 or USD 750 depending on employer size; USD 4,000 extra for some large H-1B employers. A USD 100,000 payment applies to certain petitions filed from Sept. 21, 2025, but a court vacated the guidance on June 8, 2026 and DHS has appealed. Paid by the worker: visa application fee USD 205 at the U.S. embassy.
- Processing time
- Not stated on the official page
- Money you must show
- Not stated on the official page
- When and to whom you pay
- The employer pays the registration fee to USCIS before registering and the petition fees when filing. The worker pays the USD 205 visa fee to the Department of State before the visa interview.
Checked on 18 October 2026. What the page says
Read on uscis.gov on 2026-10-18: "Attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in a directly related* specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation"; "USCIS has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap"; "The fee for each registration is $215 for the FY 2027 H-1B cap."; alert: "On June 8, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order that vacated agency guidance implementing the $100,000 payment requirement"; fee page (G-1055): "Fraud Prevention and Detection fee" "$500"; travel.state.gov fee page: "$205.00" Another official page. Another official page. Another official page. Another official page. Another official page.