Apply for an H-1B Visa
Before applying for a J-1 visa, please read our general guidance, Applying for a Visa. The information there applies to all U.S. nonimmigrant visa applications.
Applying for an H-1B visa is easy. To improve your chances of approval, follow the steps below in the order that they appear.
To apply for an H-1B visa, you first need VCU to file an I-129 H-1B petition with USCIS on your behalf.
When USCIS approves the petition, they will send a Form I-797 H-1B approval notice to VCU in the care of our immigration lawyer.
Our immigration lawyer will provide the H-1B approval notice to you.
If you are interested in VCU H-1B visa sponsorship, please ask your department’s Human Resources (HR) manager to contact Immigration Services by email.
You need to prepare and submit a DS-160 for your H-1B visa. If you have a spouse or minor children who need H-4 visas connected to your H-1B visa, you need to prepare and submit a DS-160 for each dependent, as well.
- If your dependents have a USCIS Form I-797 H-4 approval notice, they may use it to apply for H-4 visas.
- If your dependents do not have a USCIS Form I-797 H-4 approval notice, they need to use your USCIS H-1B approval notice to apply for their H-4 visas.
Visit this site to file a DS-160.
At the DS-160 website, you will select the U.S. consulate that you want to use for your H-1B and H-4 visa applications.
After you submit your DS-160, you will receive a confirmation. Save the confirmation. You will need it for the following steps.
During this step, you will be scheduling your consulate interview or asking them for a waiver (exemption) from the interview, if waivers are available.
The SEVIS fee payment and DS-160 (steps 2 and 3 above) are the same for every U.S. consulate in the world.
The process of scheduling an interview (or asking for an interview waiver) varies slightly by specific consulate.
The name of the official U.S. government scheduling service for all U.S. consulate interviews is U.S. Travel Docs.
Visit this site to access U.S. Travel Docs.
At the website, select the U.S. consulate that you want to use for your visa application.
The consulates are not listed by the name of the city that they are in. They are listed by the name of the country that the consulate is in.
Example: If you want to use a U.S. consulate in India, select the letter I for India. Then select India and follow the instructions from there.
Some consulates’ U.S. Travel Docs links take you directly to a web page specifically for visa applications at that consulate. If this happens, simply follow the instructions on the web page.
Other consulates’ U.S. Travel Docs links take you to the consulate’s home page. If this happens, click the link in the upper left of the consulate’s home page for Visas. Then follow the instructions at the Visas web page.
The specific consulate’s visa application guidance also includes information about:
- Whether the consulate uses an off-site drop-box or other location for passports or they want you to bring your passport with you to the interview
- When and how to arrive for your interview (see FAQs below)
- How to request an interview waiver, if available
- What you can and cannot bring into the consulate with you (example: phone, food and drink, packages, etc.)
- How to prepare for your interview
- Additional documents required
- How your passport will be returned to you
Follow the consulate’s instructions about going for your interview. For GEO’s insight about this step, please review our guidance at Applying for a Visa.
Follow the consulate’s guidance about receiving your passport back from them with the visa stamp in it. For GEO’s insight about this step, please review our guidance at Applying for a Visa.