New Service Informs Public of Employers Requesting H-1B Workers

The US Citizenship and Immigration Service announced a new online service that informs the public about employers applying for H-1B workers.

As it is generally known, the H-1B Program allows employers in the US to temporarily hire foreign workers in jobs that require the theoretical and practical application of a highly specialized body of knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the area of specialty, or its equivalent. In this regard, the USCIS Immigration Agency has launched the new H-1B Employers Data Center, with the purpose of informing the public about the H-1B employers. This new service is part of a continuing effort to increase transparency in employment-based visa programs, allowing the public to seek H-1B petitions per fiscal year – beginning in 2009, in addition to NAICS Industrial Codes, company name, city, state and zip code. This will allow the public to calculate and evaluate the approval and denial rates and assess which employers use the H-1B Program. The individual tax years are available for download on the “Employer Data Center H-1B Records” page.

To assist the public in using the Data Center and understand the terminology used in it, the “How to Understand Our Employers Data Center H-1B” page has been created.

Cumulative data updates will be provided per quarter and annual data will be published, with an expectation to update the Employer Data Center quarterly. For example, data for the first quarter (October-December) of a fiscal year will be published in April of that fiscal year.