You may be interested in knowing that the H 1b visa allows you to work part time in the United States. This offer surprise many people as getting an H 1b visa is not so easy and even after that it is allowing part time employment. That’s the beauty of this visa. This article will explain you in detail what is part time h 1b visa and how it works.
Is there any minimum number of hours required for a part-time h 1b visa?
There is no rule as to the minimum number of hours to be provided by the employer to the H 1b visa holder in their part-time employment. The only condition that needs to be satisfied to qualify or be considered as a part-time employee is to work less than 35 hours per week for the employer.
The employer does not necessarily have to mention the number of hours for which he is employing the H 1b employee in the Labor Condition Application (LCA); however, they should specify it in the H 1b visa petition filed with the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). The employee should work minimum hours per week as specified in the H 1b visa petition by the sponsoring employer; however, having exceptions in case of holidays or vacations.
For example, If a US tech firm employs Harry as a part-time h 1b employee and specifies working hours to be between 20-25 per week. Harry has to work for a minimum of 20 hours per week for the US employer as a condition to his part-time H 1b status except in case of holidays, and also Harry cannot work for more than 35 hours in a single week as that will question his part-time h1b employee status because the maximum permissible number of hours allowed to a part-time H 1b employee is fewer than 35 hours.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of hiring an H 1b part-time worker
Advantages of Hiring an H-1B Part-Time Worker
Hiring an H 1b employee does provide certain benefits to the US employer in general and in specific situations as well. An employer can go to amend the status of current H 1b employers to part-time h 1b employees when they feel that doing is more advantageous than keeping them in full-time employment. The benefits are:
#Helps in recovering from the bad economic situation
Running a private company or business is not easy and beneficial at all times. Employers often face the risk of bad economic conditions where they may face hardship to keep all the employees working with them. The ideal situation in such cases is either to remove the number of employees working with them or reduce the employees’ salary.
However, as a general rule, an employee cannot reduce the salary of H 1b workers, and they must pay minimum wage as mentioned in the LCA. Therefore, converting an H 1b worker part-time will allow an employer not to pay the full salary and only limit the payment to the number of hours the employee did the part-time job.
#Helps in situations when the employer does not have sufficient work for the h 1b employee
When the employer is not providing full-time work to the H 1b employee, why would he pay them for the full time? For a US employer, he has to pay h 1b employers minimum wage as mentioned in the LCA. If the employer does not have sufficient full-time hours for the H 1b employee, he can reduce the number of hours by converting them to part-time H 1b employees, thereby reducing the amount they have to pay.
#Improve employee’s H 1b dependent status
An employee is considered as an H 1b dependent employer when he has:
- A minimum of 8 H 1b employees when the total number of employees hired by the employer is 25 or less.
- At least 13 H b1 full-time workers when the total number of employees hired by the employer ranges between 26-50.
- When the employee hires 51 or more total workforce, his status will become h 1b dependent employer when the workforce includes 15 per cent or more H 1b workers.
The H 1b dependent employer status can negatively affect the employer’s ability to hire more h 1b workers, and their application will be highly scrutinized. However, when the employee hires part-time h 1b visa employees and not full time, they can improve their H 1b dependent status because a part-time H 1b employee is counted as less than a full-time H 1b employee while determining H 1b dependent status of the employers.
Disadvantages of Hiring an H-1B Part-Time Worker
#Can have a negative effect on the employer-employee relationship
An employee who is generally been hired for full-time H 1b work, may negatively feel if he has been switched to part-time work. This is because he may lose potential earnings during that time which can impact their relationship with the employer and not in a positive way.
#Can increase employer’s turnover
As an employee, every H 1b worker wants steady work and income to support them financially in the US. We know how high the living cost is in the big cities in the US. If an employee is made to do a part-time job, he may start looking for another H 1b job that is giving full-time work and may try to change his H 1b employer. This can increase the employer’s turnover and put an additional burden on the employer to hire more H 1b workers.
How to file for a part-time h 1b visa?
The employer if converting existing full-time employees to part-time employees, they have to file an amended visa petition and pay the fees for the same. Other fees such as fraud fees are exempted because they had been paid previously when H 1b petition was filed for the first time.
Do I get more than 6 years if I work as a part-time H-1B worker?
We know that an H 1b worker can maximum extend his stay for a period of 6 years. However, some may wonder if they can work for more than 6 years if they work part-time. This is not the case, the maximum authorized stay that USCIS grants for any H 1b worker (whether part-time or full time) is 6 years and the basis of the extension of visa is the period of stay and not the amount of work you do during your stay.
Can I work for more than one employer in part-time H-1B visa?
YES! It is possible to work for multiple employers in h 1b visa as long as the basic requirements of H 1b visa are fulfilled such as a bachelor’s degree in relevant job, prevailing wage in employer’s payroll, specialty occupation etc. You can work under concurrent employment as long as it does not seem unreasonable or unpractical for a person to work.
How can Herman Legal Group Help You?
We hope that this article has cleared your queries related to part time H 1b visa. In case you have any other doubts or feel alone in your visa processing, remember you are not alone. Contact the Herman Legal Group. We are an award-winning immigration law firm founded in 1995 and experienced in all areas of immigration.
Our immigration lawyer will have a quick consultation with you, and you can describe your case to him. You can set up a consultation with one of our immigration attorneys by calling us at 1-216-696-6170 or by booking online. Most of their meetings with clients and prospective clients are conducted online, via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facetime, or Google Meet.
