The H-1B visa is a type of non-immigrant work visa in the United States. It allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in "specialty occupations," which are jobs that need special skills and education. Some other uses include for fashion models and workers on U.S. Department of Defense projects. The visa is managed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Definition of specialty occupation
The law says that a "specialty occupation" is a job that needs:
Theoretical and practical use of highly specialized knowledge, and
At least a bachelor's degree or higher in the same field (or equal training and experience).
Length of stay
H-1B workers normally can stay up to three years at first. The stay can be extended to six years. If the worker is waiting for a green card, the stay can be longer.
Caps and exemptions
The number of new H-1B visas each year is limited:
65,000 regular visas
20,000 for people with U.S. master's degrees or higher
Special smaller numbers for Chile and Singapore under free trade agreements
Some employers, such as universities and nonprofit research groups, are free from these limits.
Application process
The process has several steps:
Employer enters worker in the annual electronic lottery.
If chosen, the employer files a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with the Department of Labor.
The employer then files Form I-129 with USCIS.
If approved, the worker may change status inside the U.S. or apply for a visa at a U.S. embassy abroad.
Dependents
Spouses and unmarried children under 21 can apply for H-4 visas. They may live in the U.S., and in some cases, they may also work.
Numbers and trends
In 2019, USCIS estimated there were about 583,000 H-1B workers in the United States. The number of visas grew four times between 1991 and 2022. In 2022, about 265,000 visas were approved, making it the second largest worker visa after the H-2A for farm workers.
Criticism
The program has been criticized for:
Giving businesses cheap skilled labor
Creating conditions like indentured servitude (workers tied to one employer), especially because the U.S. does not have broad residency programs like Canada or Australia
Being used by people as a way to a green card (permanent resident card) by taking lower real pay for sponsorship, creating harmful workplace practices
Age discrimination against older U.S. workers
Keeping wages lower in technology fields
Economists disagree on whether the H-1B helps or hurts U.S. workers and the economy overall.
History and context
The H-1B visa is part of the long history of the United States using workers from other countries. Some people say it shows a record of a mixed workforce and also a lack of enough trained workers at home. The first European settlers were often political or economic refugees. Later, much of the nation’s early growth came from slave labor brought from Africa. In the 20th century, new immigrants helped the United States grow in science, technology, and defense.
In 1952, the United States Congress created the H-1 visa under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and in the 1990s the H-1B visa. In the early 2000s, the need for technology workers increased, and a good portion of the fees on the visa were used to train and re-train U.S. workers so the country would not depend too much on outside workers in the future.
In late 2025, the U.S. government raised the cost for each new H-1B visa to 100,000 U.S. dollars. Before this, total fees were about 1,500 dollars. The stated goal was to make sure the program is used only to bring in top-level workers, and not to displace U.S. workers with foreign labor.