USA Work Visa & Jobs for Pakistanis & Indians
USA work visa: H-1B, H-2B and green card routes — check your eligibility free.
The United States has the world's largest job market, but work visas are competitive and strictly regulated. The famous H-1B route runs through an annual registration lottery, while seasonal industries hire through the H-2B program. There is no legal shortcut — anyone promising you a 'guaranteed' US work visa for cash is running a scam.
The good news: the Diversity Visa (green card) lottery is completely free to enter on the official State Department website, and many Pakistanis and Indians apply every year. Never pay an agent to 'enter the lottery' for you — entry takes ten minutes and costs nothing.
🆕 Only the new I-129 counts from today (9 Nov 2026)
USCIS accepts only the 09/09/26 edition of Form I-129 from today — petitions on the old 02/27/26 edition postmarked or filed on or after 9 Nov are rejected outright (H-1B, H-2B, L-1, O-1 and all other I-129 categories, by mail and online). Employers with 50+ US staff and over 50% H-1B/L-1 workforce also pay an extra $4,000 per H-1B and $4,500 per L-1 petition, including extensions, through 30 Sep 2027. Ask your employer to confirm the edition date in writing. Full story in Visa News.
🟢 November 2026 Visa Bulletin (released 22 Oct)
The November 2026 Visa Bulletin is kind to families: final action dates for F1, F2B, F3 and F4 jump about a year for most countries including India and China (F1 → 22 Jan 2021, F2B → 22 Aug 2020, F3 → 22 Oct 2015, F4 → 22 Oct 2012), and F2A moves a month to 22 Oct 2026. Employment gains are smaller: EB-3 India +21 days to 22 Jan 2014, EB-1/EB-2 India frozen. No retrogressions anywhere, and USCIS accepts the Dates for Filing chart for employment-based filings. Compare YOUR priority date against the official charts monthly. Full story in Visa News.
🆕 USCIS fees rise (16 Oct 2026)
USCIS raised fees for asylum ($102 to $105), initial EAD for asylum applicants, humanitarian parolees and TPS holders ($560 to $570), TPS ($510 to $520) and parole ($1,020 to $1,050) — the first annual inflation adjustment under H.R.1. Anything postmarked on or after 16 Oct with the old fee is rejected outright, which can cost you a priority date. H-1B and L-1 fees are unchanged this round. Always confirm the current fee on uscis.gov before filing. See the full story in Visa News on the main site.
🆕 540-day work-permit extension ENDED (14 Oct 2026)
DHS published the final rule ending the 540-day automatic extension of Employment Authorization Documents, effective immediately. Renewal applications filed on or after 30 Oct 2025 get no grace — your work authorization ends when your card expires. Hit: H-4 spouses, asylum seekers and green-card (adjustment-of-status) applicants. File renewals the day the 180-day window opens and plan I-9 reverification with your employer. See the full story in Visa News on the main site.
🆕 H-1B FY2027 registrations collapse (19 Oct 2026)
A Congressional Research Service report (IN12747) shows the FY2027 lottery — the first under wage-weighted selection — emptied the outsourcer pipeline: Cognizant filed zero registrations (down 100% from 3,752), Infosys down 91%, TCS down 95%; top staffing firms' registrations fell ~92% overall. DOL proposes raising prevailing wages (entry-level from ~17th to ~34th percentile); DHS proposes a $103,265 per-petition fee on top of the Sep 2025 $100,000 fee (currently court-blocked). Automatic EAD extensions for H-4 spouses are already ended. What still works: direct, higher-paid employer sponsorship. See the full story in Visa News on the main site — and never pay anyone for a 'guaranteed H-1B slot'.
⏳ Proposed (7 Oct 2026): $70,000 OPT fee — NOT law yet
DHS has proposed charging US universities $70,000 per F-1 student for each initial OPT work authorization ($30,000 for follow-ups); a school's officer could not recommend OPT until it is paid. It would apply only to recommendations made after the rule takes effect — comments closed 9 Nov 2026, and court challenges are expected. Current OPT rules are unchanged. See Visa News for the full breakdown — and don't pay any agent who claims to 'protect' your OPT under a proposal.
⏳ Proposed (13 Oct 2026): $140,000 H-1B wage floor — NOT law yet
Rep. Glenn Grothman introduced H.R. 10799 (House companion to Sen. Husted's S. 5638) — it would replace the $60,000 H-1B exemption threshold (frozen since 1998) with twice the SSA national average wage, about $140,000 today, auto-adjusting with wage growth. It targets the exemption H-1B-dependent employers use to skip domestic-hiring protections — it is NOT a minimum salary for all H-1B workers. No cosponsors yet, referred to House Judiciary, and the House is out until after the 3 Nov midterms: a proposal, not law. Full story in Visa News — and never pay anyone who claims to 'lock in' your H-1B under a proposal.
⏳ Proposed (14 Oct 2026): no more deference on H-1B/L-1 extensions — NOT law yet
DHS has proposed removing the rule that tells USCIS to defer to prior approvals when extending H-1B, L-1 and other I-129 worker petitions — every extension would be re-adjudicated from scratch. About 208,000 extensions a year would be affected (~75% H-1B). Comments open until 13 Nov 2026; current deference rules still apply and a final rule is months away, if it comes at all. Full story in Visa News — don't change filing plans over a proposal, and never pay anyone who claims to 'protect' your extension.
Popular work visa routes
Real routes with links to the official immigration websites. Fees and thresholds change — always confirm on the official site.
H-1B Specialty Occupation
For professional roles needing a degree. Employers register candidates in an annual lottery run by USCIS — check current rules on the official page. Update (Sep 2026): agencies now weigh the sponsor's layoff history when adjudicating; the $100,000 fee extension runs to Sep 2027 but collection is court-blocked. Watch (1 Oct 2026): a new House bill (H.R. 10643) proposes raising H-1B fraud fines up to $250,000 per violation — not law yet, but enforcement pressure keeps rising. Update (19 Oct 2026): FY2027 registrations from the biggest IT staffing firms collapsed ~92% under wage-weighted selection (Cognizant zero, Infosys −91%, TCS −95% per CRS report IN12747) — the outsourcer route is fading; direct, higher-paid sponsorship keeps the edge.
Official site →H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers
For seasonal jobs in hospitality, landscaping, construction and more. The employer must prove no US workers are available.
Official site →Diversity Visa (Green Card) Lottery
Free annual lottery for a US green card — but DV-2027 registration never opened and the visa year began 1 Oct 2026 with no selectees; a federal lawsuit is still pending. Enter only at dvprogram.state.gov during an announced window — it is free, and agents cannot improve your odds. See Visa News on the main site.
Official site →Employment-Based Green Cards (EB categories)
Permanent residence through employer sponsorship, including EB-3 for skilled and other workers. Update (Oct 2026): the October Visa Bulletin reopened EB-2 India (Final Action 1 Nov 2013) and EB-5 unreserved India, and advanced EB-1 India to 1 Feb 2023 — but EB-2/EB-3 retrogressed for most countries. USCIS accepts the Dates for Filing chart for October filings. Update (8 Oct 2026): DOL suspended PERM processing for 8 employers (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Cognizant, Capgemini, Microsoft, Adobe) amid fraud investigations — green-card cases for their workers are frozen at the PERM stage. This is targeted, not a blanket ban; existing H-1B status is unaffected.
Official site →Social-Media Screening
From 1 Oct 2026 the State Department's online-presence review covers I (media), TN (USMCA professionals) and TD (dependants) visas too — set all profiles to 'public'/'open'. It already applied to F, M, J, H-1B/H-3/H-4, K, Q, R and diplomatic categories.
Visa News →Jobs in USA (0 listings)
Live listings from Visa Jobs World. Click any job to view & apply on the main site.
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