What Are the Basic H-1B Requirements?

To understand H-1B requirements, it is very important to go through the details and eligibility guidelines before applying. For each and every requirement, there are forms to help applicants understand how they should submit the application in order to meet the requirements of the departments.

Requirement# 1: You should have employer-employee relationship with the petitioner U.S employer

Generally, a valid relationship between the employer and the employee can be determined by whether the referred U.S. employer may choose to hire, pay, supervise, control work, or simply fire the H-1B worker. In few cases, the sole and majority owner of a petitioning organization or company may successfully establish a valid and legit employer-employee relationship by showing facts that the petitioner has every right to control the employment of the beneficiary.

Requirement# 2: Your job should qualify as one specialty occupation by meeting at least one of the criteria mentioned below:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher or equivalent is the minimum requirement for a particular position


• Degree prerequisite is common for a position in the industry, or job responsibility is unique or complicated that it can be performed only by someone having a bachelor’s degree in a field that is related to the vacant position


• The employer requires a degree or equivalent certification for the position


• The nature of certain duties are so specialized as well as complicated that knowledge needed to perform those duties is generally associated only after attaining a bachelor’s degree or higher

Requirement# 3: Your job should be in a specialty occupation in your field of education

You must present some evidence, such as your degree/diploma certificate to demonstrate that the degree is directly related to the position you have applied for. Documents that you can submit are:

• An explanation of specific duties related to the position, service or product the company provides, or the complicated nature of your role in the company, and how your qualification and degree directly relates to that role.


• Written opinion gathered from experts in your field explaining how your degree is related to the job role you have to perform.


• Printouts should be taken for various online resources with proper description of the degree fields associated with occupation.


• Evidence to show that similar companies in the same industry need similar degrees for like positions.

What happens if an individual doesn’t have a Bachelor’s Degree?

In case if an applicant doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree, he can qualify by other means like:

• Having unrestricted state license, certification or registration that authorizes a person to fully practice a specialty occupation and get immediately engaged in that role in the state where employment is intended; or


• Having proper specialized training, education, and/or responsible experience equivalent to competition of U.S bachelor’s degree or higher in the specialty occupation and also having expertise recognition in that specialty area through responsible positions. Generally, 3 years training or work experience in the field specialty is considered equivalent to one year of college.

Requirement# 4: Your pay must be at par with the actual or prevailing rate of wage for the occupation

Prevailing wage is generally determined on the basis of the position to be employed for and the location where a person is seeking for job. The U.S. Department of Labor maintains its database with applicable prevailing wage levels based on work location and occupation. It should be checked before applying.

Requirement #5: H-1B visa number MUST be available while filing the petition

The H-1B comes with an annual numerical restriction, called cap, of 65,000 visas for each fiscal year. In this, the first 20,000 applications filed on behalf of the beneficiaries with U.S. master’s degree or even higher are exempt from this cap. In addition, H-1B employees who have been petitioned for or employed at any institution for higher education, government research organization, or nonprofit research organization are also not subject to the cap. Basically, cap numbers are used up quickly. Hence, it is very important to plan ahead of time if you want to fill for H-1B visa, which is subject to the annual H-1B numerical cap.