What is an H-1B visa, and why are tech companies worried about them?

Tech companies are bracing for changes President Donald Trump may make to work-visa programs that could transform their workforces.

The H-1B visa program, in particular, is important to tech companies. The visas let American companies sponsor immigrants with "highly specialized knowledge" in fields including science, engineering and computer programming, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

In Chicago, employers sponsored almost 13,000 H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2017, the fifth-most of any city in the U.S.

Proponents of the program say it helps companies fill job openings for which there aren’t enough Americans available. Critics say the need for foreign talent is less than some companies say, or that the program allows companies to choose foreign workers over Americans.

Here’s what you need to know about what H-1Bs are and who uses them. Most of the information below comes from USCIS, unless otherwise noted.

What is the H-1B visa?

USCIS says this visa allows foreign nationals to work for up to six years in the U.S. in specialized occupations, such as computer programming; for the Department of Defense on cooperative research and development or coproduction projects; or fashion modeling. First Lady Melania Trump, a former model, says she held an H-1B visa early during her time in the U.S.

Each H-1B petition is valid for a maximum of three years at a time. After six years, H-1B visa holders must change to a different status or leave the U.S., except in special cases of exemption.

Who is eligible?

The first requirement of getting an H-1B is being able to demonstrate that the applicant is employed. In the case of an entrepreneur, this can be proved by documents showing that others — a board of directors or investors, for example — control the applicant’s employment. If someone else has the ability to fire an entrepreneur, he or she may qualify.

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Beyond that, the applicant likely must hold at least a bachelor’s degree relevant to the position. Those without bachelor’s degrees must hold valid licenses permitting them to perform their particular job, or equivalent education or training. USCIS says three years of work experience or training equals one year of a bachelor’s degree.

The applicant must also be paid at least the prevailing wage for the role. In Cook County, the mean prevailing wage for computer programmers is $37.27 an hour, or $77,522 a year, according to the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center.

How great is the demand?

In 2016, 236,000 people applied for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2017, up from 233,000 applicants the year before.

Every year, USCIS caps spots at 65,000, with 20,000 reserved for those with master’s degrees or higher. If USCIS receives more than that number of petitions in the first five business days of the annual filing period, it awards visas using a computer-run random lottery system.

The cap mainly covers new applicants; visa-holders who are only applying to extend their stays or change their employment may not be subject to the cap. USCIS accepts and processes petitions in the second category longer than the five-day period for capped visas.

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To sponsor an applicant, employers must show that the job meets eligibility requirements, such as needing a bachelor’s degree, according to HR software provider Zenefits. Fees associated with sponsorship vary based on company size and how many nonimmigrant workers they employ, UCSIS says.

Interest in the coveted visas, which are subject to an annual federal cap, has surged in recent days. Nearly 49,000 people looked at Wikipedia’s entry for H-1B visas on Jan. 31, up from a daily average of about 3,100 for the rest of the month, according to Wikimedia Labs. Most of Tuesday’s views were on the English-language site, followed by German, Hindi, Chinese and Korean.

Who uses it?

Tech companies often sponsor H-1B workers, but consulting and outsourcing firms tend to be more active in that regard.

The top H-1B sponsor in the country for fiscal year 2017 is Infosys, an Indian consulting and IT services firm, according to MyVisaJobs.com, which tracks visa data. Capgemini, a French consulting and outsourcing firm, and Tata Consultancy Services, an Indian IT and business services firm, round out the top three. IBM, headquartered in upstate New York, is fourth on the list.

Employers in California sponsored more than 119,000 H-1B petitions for this year, the most in the country. Illinois was fifth on the list with more than 35,000 petitions. The top Chicago companies were Capgemini, Deloitte Consulting, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Ernst & Young.

Infosys, Capgemini and Tata Consultancy Services gave H-1B employees salaries averaging about $84,000. Tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon pay H-1Bs more than $127,000 on average.

In Chicago, the highest-paid H-1B employees work for consultancies and financial services firms including Citadel, the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and Company. They average more than $149,000.

aelahi@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @aminamania

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