What is the H-1B visa?
The H-1B visa is designed to provide a timely process for US businesses to hire foreign-born professionals in speciality occupations, particularly the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.
To ensure that businesses are not hiring foreign-born workers to drive down wages, salary and terms and conditions must be the same for them as those of Americans in similar occupations. The foreign professionals must have a four-year advanced degree (a bachelor's degree or its equivalent).
Current laws set this visa program at a 65,000 cap for new H-1B workers each year, plus an additional 20,000 for foreign workers with a master's or higher degree from a US university.
Usually, H-1B visas are valid for two or three years, with a six-year maximum total stay in the US.
Are physicians and economists considered STEM workers?