Timeline of H-1B
From Timelines
This timeline covers the history of the H-1B visa. The timeline incorporates some content from H-1B visa#Changes to legal and administrative rules (although much of that section was added by the author of the current Timelines wiki page, it also incorporates edits from others). The original content was released under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License (CC-BY-SA), so this page inherits this license.
Full timeline
When inline citations are missing, this is usually because the Wikipedia article for the subject of that row has adequate detail and its own citations.
| Year | Month and date (if available) | Event type | Event name | Authorities in power | Effect on fees | Effect on cap | Effect on LCA attestations and DOL investigative authority | Effect on adjudication process | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | June 27 | Legislation | Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 | 82nd United States Congress, President Harry S. Truman (vetoed but overridden) | Creates the H-1 and H-2 visa categories for skilled and unskilled workers; the H-1 would give rise to the modern H-1B visa. | ||||
| 1982 | INS/USCIS guidance | In response to Matter of Srinivasan | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | An internal memo of the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS, the precursor to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) provides guidance regarding issuance of B-1 in lieu of H-1.[1][2] | ||
| 1990 | November 29 | Legislation | Immigration Act of 1990 | 101st United States Congress, President George H. W. Bush | Only a base filing fee | Set an annual cap of 65,000 on new 3-year H-1Bs, including transfer applications and extensions of stay. | Set up the basic rules for the Labor Condition Application | Defines adjudication process | The old H-1 visa is split into the H-1A visa for nurses (which would be discontinued and replaced by the H-1C visa, which would also be discontinued) and the H-1B visa. Additionally, the Immigration Act of 1990 also creates the employment-based (EB) immigration category for permanent immigration. The H-1B and EB would play an important symbiotic role. |
| 1998 | October 21 | Legislation | American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act (ACWIA) | 105th United States Congress, President Bill Clinton | Additional $500 fee to train U.S. workers to reduce the shortage of skilled workers, and therefore reduce the need for H-1B | Temporary increase in caps to 115,000 for 1999 and 2000 | Introduces the concept of H-1B-dependent employer and required additional attestations about non-displacement of U.S. workers from employers who were H-1B-dependent or had committed a willful misrepresentation in an application in the recent past. Also gives investigative authority to the United States Department of Labor | No change | The legislation is mostly a victory for restrictionists and labor advocates, with the main concession to expansionists being the temporary quota increase |
| 2000 | October 17 | Legislation | American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) | 106th United States Congress, President Bill Clinton | Increase of fee for training U.S. workers from $500 to $1000 | Increase in caps to 195,000 for Fiscal Years 2001, 2002, and 2003. Creation of an uncapped category for non-profit research institutions. Exemption from the cap for people who had already been cap-subject. This includes people on cap-subject H-1Bs who are switching jobs, as well as people applying for a 3-year extension of their current 3-year H-1B. Also, people with pending green card applications on EB-1,2,3 statuses can keep extending their H-1B (without being cap-subject) while waiting |
No change | No change | The legislation paves the way for a significant de facto expansion of the H-1B program, despite no permanent increase in the annual cap. |
| 2001 | July 30 | INS/USCIS guidance | Premium Processing Service launch | Additional fee of $1000 for using the Premium Processing Service; those not using it see no fee change | No change | No change | Those who pay for the Premium Processing Service should receive an initial adjudication in 15 calendar days from the later of the time of petition receipt or time of Premium Processing Service filing and fee receipt.[3] | ||
| 2004 | December 6 | Legislation | H-1 Visa Reform Act of 2004, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 | 108th United States Congress, President George W. Bush | Increase of fee for retraining US workers to $1500 for companies with 26 or more employees, reduction to $750 for small companies. Addition of anti-fraud fee of $500 | Bachelor's degree cap returns to 65,000 with added 20,000 visas for applicants with U.S. postgraduate degrees. Additional exemptions for non-profit research and governmental entities. | Expands the Department of Labor's investigative authority, but also provides two standard lines of defense to employers (the Good Faith Compliance Defense and the Recognized Industry Standards Defense). | No change | |
| 2009 | February 17 | Legislation | Employ American Workers Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 | 111th United States Congress, President Barack Obama | No change | No change | All recipients of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) or Federal Reserve Act Section 13 are required to file the additional attestations required of H-1B-dependent employers, for any employee who had not yet started on a H-1B visa. | No change | Sunset after two years, on February 17, 2011. |
| 2010 | January 8 | INS/USCIS guidance | Determining Employer-Employee Relationships for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements | Donald Neufeld (Associate Director, Service Center Operations) | No change | No change | No change | Memo updates Adjudication Field Manual (AFM) Chapter 31.3(g)(15) (AFM Update 10-24) with clearer guidance on determining if petitioner and beneficiary have an employer/employee relationship | The memo uses the employer's "right to control" as a key criterion for an employer/employee relationship. USCIS also publishes a FAQ on the memo.[4][5][6] |
| 2010 | August 13 | Legislation | Public Law 111-230 (Section 402) | 111th United States Congress, President Barack Obama | Additional fee of $2,000 for employers with more than 50 employees and more than 50% of their workforce either H-1B or L-1 | No change | No change | No change | The fee would apply only to petitions on postmarked on or after August 14, 2010, and until September 30, 2014.[7][8] See H-1B-dependent employer#Additional fees for more. |
| 2010 | November | Fee increase | Fee increases across the board as part of a regular fee increase.[9] | No change | No change | No change | |||
| 2011 | January 2 | Legislation | Public Law 111-347 (Section 302) | 111th United States Congress, President Barack Obama | No change | No change | No change | No change | The end date for the increased fees imposed by P.L. 111-230 is extended from September 30, 2014 to September 30, 2015.[10][11] |
| 2015 | December 18 | Legislation | Public Law 114-113, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 | Additional fee of $4,000 for employers with more than 50 employees and more than 50% of their workforce either H-1B or L-1 | No change | No change | No change | No change | This applies to all petitions postmarked on or after December 18, 2015 and until September 30, 2025.[12][13] It replaces a similar $2,000 fee that applied till September 30, 2015. See H-1B-dependent employer#Additional fees for more. |
See also
- Timeline of immigrant processing and visa policy in the United States
- Timeline of immigration enforcement in the United States
- ↑ "Digging Deeper: History of B-1 in lieu of H-1". globalworkers.org. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
- ↑ Paparelli, Angelo; Wehrer, Susan (October 18, 2000). "Business Visitors from Abroad - Tips and Traps for the HR Department". Immigration Daily. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
- ↑ Neufeld, Donald (January 8, 2010). "Determining Employer-Employee Relationships for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements" (PDF). United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ↑ "USCIS Guidance On Establishing Employer-Employee Relationship In H-1B Petitions". NAFSA. January 8, 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ↑ "Questions & Answers: USCIS Issues Guidance Memorandum on Establishing the "Employee-Employer Relationship" in H-1B Petitions". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. January 13, 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ↑ "Teleconference: Implementing Public Law 111-230". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ↑ "USCIS Implements H-1B and L-1 Fee Increase According to P.L. 111-230". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ↑ "H1B Fee Increase". H1Base. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
- ↑ "Public Law 111-230 H-1B, L-1 Additional Fees Expire". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. October 5, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
- ↑ "Public Law 111-347" (PDF). United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. January 2, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
- ↑ "New Law Increases H-1B and L-1 Petition Fees". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
- ↑ "Indian IT Companies to pay over $8,000 per visa". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
