Omar Mirza

I applied for an H-1B visa on June 12th, 2004 in preparation for a job
in Iowa which starts on August 26th, 2004.

Does anyone have any idea how long these things usually take?

Thanks,

Omar Mirza

J. J. Farrell

"Omar Mirza" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I applied for an H-1B visa on June 12th, 2004 in preparation for a job
    > in Iowa which starts on August 26th, 2004.
    > Does anyone have any idea how long these things usually take?

Do you really mean "visa" (a document that gets stuck in your
passport), or do you mean approval of the petition that the
employer submits to get work authorization for you (and which
you can subsequently use to get a visa if necessary).

Petitions take a few months (I think 3 or 4 is typical at the
moment) unless the employer pays an extra $1,000 in which case
they usually take less than 15 days. The start date for any
approved H-1B petition will be October 1 at the earliest this
year, apart from some special employers.

Visas take a wide range of time depending on the applicant and
the Consulate at which they apply. Typically a few weeks, but
sometimes 6 months to a year or more if the Consulate decides
to do a security check.

Omar Mirza

"J. J. Farrell" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected] link.net>...
    > "Omar Mirza" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > I applied for an H-1B visa on June 12th, 2004 in preparation for a job
    > > in Iowa which starts on August 26th, 2004.
    > >
    > > Does anyone have any idea how long these things usually take?
    >
    > Do you really mean "visa" (a document that gets stuck in your
    > passport), or do you mean approval of the petition that the
    > employer submits to get work authorization for you (and which
    > you can subsequently use to get a visa if necessary).

I mean the latter. Thank you for the clarification.


    > Petitions take a few months (I think 3 or 4 is typical at the
    > moment) unless the employer pays an extra $1,000 in which case
    > they usually take less than 15 days. The start date for any
    > approved H-1B petition will be October 1 at the earliest this
    > year, apart from some special employers.

That's bad for me. Is there anything I can do to speed up the process
of my peition has not been approved by the start of my employment?

Thanks,

Omar

Joachim Feise

Omar Mirza wrote on 7/18/2004 9:41:
    >
    >>Petitions take a few months (I think 3 or 4 is typical at the
    >>moment) unless the employer pays an extra $1,000 in which case
    >>they usually take less than 15 days. The start date for any
    >>approved H-1B petition will be October 1 at the earliest this
    >>year, apart from some special employers.
    >
    >
    > That's bad for me. Is there anything I can do to speed up the process
    > of my peition has not been approved by the start of my employment?

No, there is nothing to be done.
There is a quota for H1s, and the quota for the current fiscal year
had been filled by February 2004.
Fiscal year 2005 starts on Oct. 1, 2004, so any H1 approved now can
only start from Oct. 1.
Your prospective employer should know that (if they actually have
hired a lawyer dealing with these things...)
The only exception is for "institutes of higher learning" and the like,
i.e., universities and research institutions.

-Joe