How the H-1B process works

Five stages, four parties

An H-1B case moves through a fixed sequence of steps, and each step belongs to a specific actor. The employer (called the petitioner) controls most of the process: it decides whether to sponsor a candidate, files the paperwork, and pays the associated costs. The prospective worker (the beneficiary) supplies personal and educational evidence but cannot file anything on their own behalf. The Department of Labor (DOL) reviews one specific document, the Labor Condition Application, before the case ever reaches immigration authorities. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security, runs the registration, selection and petition-adjudication steps. Understanding which party acts at which stage makes it easier to read what an employer's H-1B record in USCIS data actually represents: a count of petitions that employer filed and how USCIS ruled on them, not a count of job offers or hires.

Registration and selection

For employers subject to the annual numerical limit, the process begins with electronic registration. The employer (or its attorney) submits basic biographic information for each prospective beneficiary during a designated registration window, paying a registration fee per beneficiary; current fees are listed on the USCIS fee schedule. If registrations exceed the number available for the fiscal year, USCIS runs a random selection process among unique beneficiaries. Only employers whose registrations are selected may proceed to file a full H-1B petition for that beneficiary. Employers that qualify as cap-exempt do not go through registration and selection at all; see the guide to cap-exempt employers for how that category differs. The mechanics of registration and selection are described on USCIS's H-1B electronic registration process page.

The Labor Condition Application

Before a selected employer can file the H-1B petition itself, it must obtain a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) from the Department of Labor. The LCA is a distinct filing, submitted through DOL's FLAG system on Form ETA-9035, in which the employer attests to specific conditions: the wage offered, the wage level and prevailing wage for the occupation and area of intended employment, and the worksite or worksites where the beneficiary will work. DOL reviews the LCA for completeness and internal consistency, not for whether the underlying job or candidate qualifies for H-1B classification — that determination belongs to USCIS. A certified LCA does not guarantee that USCIS will approve the H-1B petition it supports, and one certified LCA can cover more workers than are ultimately petitioned for or hired. Readers comparing LCA data across employers can start with the guide to reading an LCA. DOL's LCA program page is at flag.dol.gov/programs/LCA.

The petition

With a certified LCA in hand, the employer files Form I-129, the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, with USCIS, along with evidence that the position qualifies as a specialty occupation and that the beneficiary meets its requirements. The petition names one employer and one beneficiary; if a worker changes jobs, the new employer files its own petition, described in the guide to changing employers. Petitioners who want a faster adjudication timeline may request an optional premium processing service; the terms and current fee for that service are on the USCIS fee schedule rather than repeated here, since they change over time.

Adjudication

A USCIS officer reviews the petition and supporting evidence and issues one of several outcomes: approval, denial, or a Request for Evidence (RFE) asking the employer to submit additional documentation before a decision is made. USCIS's public H-1B Employer Data Hub reports these outcomes as initial approvals and denials — the first adjudication of a petition for a given worker and employer — separately from continuing approvals and denials, which cover extensions and amendments for workers already in H-1B status. The distinction matters when reading an employer's numbers, and is covered in more depth in the guide to approval rates, using the formulas on the methodology page.

Start of status

An approved petition sets the earliest date the beneficiary may begin work in H-1B status; it does not by itself authorize entry into the country if the beneficiary is applying from abroad. A beneficiary who is outside the United States generally must obtain an H-1B visa stamp at a U.S. embassy or consulate before entering to begin the job named in the petition; the Department of State's temporary worker visa page describes that consular step. A beneficiary who is already in the United States in another status may instead be eligible for a change of status, which does not require consular processing. Either way, the beneficiary cannot begin the new job until the underlying petition has been approved (or, in a same-employer extension or certain new-employer filings, until the petition has been properly filed) and any required travel or status change has been completed.

Reading an employer's H-1B record

Every H-1B case an employer files becomes a row in USCIS or DOL data: LCAs at the Department of Labor, and petition outcomes at USCIS. Because the process has this many discrete, separately administered steps, the counts at each stage will not match — an employer can certify more LCAs than it petitions for, and petition for more workers than it ultimately employs, for reasons ranging from a candidate accepting another offer to a position being filled internally. VisaBench's employer pages, such as Infosys, present the petition-level counts from USCIS alongside LCA-level detail from DOL so each stage can be read on its own terms; the top sponsors ranking orders employers by petition volume for readers who want to see the largest filers first.

This guide is general information, not legal advice; consult a licensed immigration attorney about your case. The steps above describe the stable structure of the H-1B process; specific fees, numerical limits and processing times change and are best confirmed directly with USCIS, DOL or the Department of State at the time of filing.