H-1B Visa Complete Guide

The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa that allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, typically demonstrated by a bachelor's degree or higher in the relevant field.

H-1B status is employer-sponsored and tied to a specific position. The employer files an I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker on the beneficiary's behalf, supported by an approved Labor Condition Application (LCA) from the Department of Labor.

A position qualifies as a specialty occupation when it meets at least one of four USCIS tests: the position requires a bachelor's or higher degree, the degree requirement is common to the industry, the employer normally requires the degree for the position, or the duties are so specialized and complex that the degree is normally required.

The beneficiary must hold the required degree or its equivalent, and the employer must establish a valid employer-employee relationship that continues throughout the requested validity period.

The H-1B is subject to an annual cap of 65,000 regular visas plus 20,000 for beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher. When demand exceeds the cap, USCIS runs a lottery to select petitions — which is why petition quality and RFE prevention matter so much.

Cap-exempt employers — including institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations — are not subject to the cap and can file year-round.

Before filing the I-129, the employer must obtain a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) from the Department of Labor. The LCA attests to wage levels, working conditions, and notification requirements, and the wage must meet the prevailing wage for the position.

LCA vs I-129 mismatches — incorrect wage levels, mismatched occupational classifications, or validity date conflicts — are among the most common H-1B RFE triggers. SpaceLizit's AI validates the LCA against the petition before filing.

• Prevailing wage compliance across all required time periods
• Occupational classification consistency between LCA and I-129
• Public access file maintenance for each petition
• Material change tracking between LCA certification and petition filing

The most common H-1B RFE triggers include vague specialty occupation language, education mismatches, insufficient evidence of a qualifying relationship between related entities, and missing or inconsistent documentation.

A real-world example: SpaceLizit's Prediction Engine flagged an H-1B for a 'Software Engineer' role with a 65% risk score due to an education mismatch — the candidate's degree was in Electronics Engineering. The AI recommended restructuring the job description to emphasize hardware-software integration, and the petition was approved without an RFE.

• Specialty occupation: clearly articulate the complex duties and degree requirement
• Education equivalence: document how the degree maps to the position
• Employer-employee relationship evidence
• LCA and wage compliance documentation
• Consistent biographic data across all forms

SpaceLizit is purpose-built for employment-based immigration. The platform auto-fills the I-129 and H-1B supplements from intake data, generates specialty occupation support letters from the beneficiary's resume, validates the LCA against the petition, and runs a pre-filing audit against 10,000+ denial patterns.

Firms using SpaceLizit report up to 80% reduction in petition preparation time, with RFE rates dropping below 3%.