Navigating the H1B1 visa process (updated 2024)
For Singaporeans who want to work in the US, we have the benefit of applying for a special H1B1 visa. This H1B1 visa is a subset of the H-1B visa commonly used by the rest of the world, but the application process is fundamentally different.
The good news is it’s wayyyy easier and faster to obtain the H1B1 visa.
Since I have gone through the process three times, I decided to document the entire process in detail to share with fellow applicants. The US administrative process to apply for the H1B1 visa is complicated and there is a scarcity of information about the process online. It might surprise you to know that even professional immigration firms are not well versed in H1B1 and have been known to make serious mistakes, so I hope this guide will save you a lot of anguish on this crucial journey.
What’s the H1B1 visa for Singaporeans?
The H1B1 visa is considered a temporary non-immigrant visa. It allows qualified professionals to temporarily live and work in the United States. It is important to note the non-immigrant intent of this visa type when considering which visa type to go for, and when preparing for the embassy interview. Proving “non-immigrant intent” by demonstrating family ties and property ownership in Singapore may play a part in the approval process.
If you have successfully landed yourself a job in the US (congrats!), you will need to begin the H1B1 visa application process immediately. Typically the immigration lawyers engaged by your new company will guide you through the process. However, since as this is not a common visa type and only applicable for Singaporeans and Chileans, not all lawyers are familiar with the entire process. (We’ve heard of many instances where the firms messed up or caused costly delays.) Given how any delays can cause you thousands of dollars in salary/relocation issues, I urge you to be kiasu and do your own due diligence!
Other visa types which Singaporeans typically use to work in the US are the L1 visa (internal company transfers) and the H1B visa (lottery basis). I will not go into details on these two visa types as there are plenty of online resources about them.
Renewals for H1B1 go through the exact same process, except you have a choice to apply for the renewal in the US (generally takes a few months longer). Tip: most companies will pay for the trip home for visa renewals.
Step by Step Guide to H1B1 visa for Singaporeans
Step 1: Company files for LCA (7–14 days)
This first step is undertaken by the company’s lawyers. You will be required to submit the following documents for them to begin this process:
- Scanned copy of your passport
- Up-to-date resume(CV)
- Scanned copy of your degrees and transcripts*
- Current U.S. visa and all previous U.S. visas (if applicable)
- Most recent Form I-94 “Arrival/Departure” Record (if you have ever been to the US)
The LCA process takes approximately 7–10 days, and your company (typically the HR department) has to endorse the documents after it’s prepared by the lawyers. Once the documents are complete, they will usually FedEx the entire set of documents to you in Singapore, or wherever you happen to be. You need to have the physical documents with you for your US embassy appointment.
*Pro tip: it was the first time in a while I was asked for physical transcripts and I had to really dig up mine. For NUS, you can purchase and download a copy online, or get it mailed to your home.
Step 2: Complete DS-160 form (1–2 hours)
The first time I went through this process, I waited till I had my LCA papers physically with me before I begun. However, I have since discovered that you can do steps 2 and 3 concurrently. This allows you to book your embassy appointment earlier (step 4) as the earliest appointment dates are at least 2–3 weeks out.
In addition to the documents in step 1, to complete the DS-160 form, you need to have the following:
- Passport photo taken in the last 6 months:
This is important as you need to submit an actual printout of it during the embassy interview, and they will reject the photo if it doesn't look like it was taken in the last 6 months. (or if it’s identical as the photo on your 2 year old passport, duh). The photo needs to be square, approx 600px by 600px and a maximum of 240kb. I took it myself with my iPhone, but I made sure the lighting was good and the size of my head was more than 50% of the photo after I cropped it. The detailed list of requirements are found here — https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/photos.html If you do not show up with a recent photo, they will make you retake it on the spot — there used to be a photo booth machine in there, but it requires cash/coins. I saw someone struggle to borrow cash to take a new photo, it was painful to watch, so just don't risk your precious appointment by not having a photo. - Entry and exit dates of previous 5 trips to the US
You can easily retrieve this on the I-94 site by entering your passport details. - U.S. Contact person details
This could be your friend, your US recruiter or lawyer. It doesn’t really matter AFAIK.
The rest of the DS-160 is basically a security checklist to ascertain you and your family are not a threat to the US or involved in terrorism. I assume you have no issues on that front. :)
Pro tip: Save your application ID! It took me 4 or 5 tries to finish the entire application as the page times out whenever you take too long to type in the information. Whenever you get logged out, you will need your application ID to retrieve your application and continue. (Oh well, if you are already frustrated with this DS-160 webpage, wait till you get to the US and have to deal with the Social Security Office and DMV. That’s where the REAL fun begins ~.~)
After you have completed your DS-160, a confirmation page will show. Save this pdf document and note down your confirmation number (in red fonts). You will need this to book your embassy interview appointment and you will also need to bring this document (printed hard copy) to the interview.
Step 3: Pay for visa fee
Update as of Feb 2022: Singpost is no longer available for fee payments. All visa application fees must be paid through VFS Global during the appointment booking process. Please skip ahead to Step 4 below.
To pay for your visa online, you need a few things
i) CGI reference number — to generate a CGI number, go to http://www.ustraveldocs.com/sg/sg-niv-paymentinfo.asp and scroll down to this section. Click on the ‘Deposit slip — $190 MRV Fee’ link, which will open up a new tab. US$190 is the fee required for the H1B1 visa as per the official info on visa fees (as of time of writing).
In the new browser tab showing the deposit slip, a randomly generated CGI reference number will be provided.
Save your CGI reference number. If you lose it before you complete payment, you can simply generate a new one using the same link. However, after paying the fees, you should note down and use the same CGI number (which has been paid for) because you will need a valid paid reference to be able to book your embassy interview. (Pro-tip: screenshots are your best friend here).
ii) A SAM account
To pay online, you need to signup for a SAM account if you do not already have one. It’s tied to your NRIC number, so each Singaporean citizen can only have one account.
Once logged in, go to ‘Payments’ and scroll down to ‘Others’ and click on the CGI image
iii) Internet banking access to a Singapore bank account
To make payment online, you will need internet banking access to one of the 5 major banks — Citibank, DBS/POSB, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered.
Once you have completed the payment, a receipt will display. Download the pdf file as you will need to print and bring a copy of this to the embassy interview.
Note: payments made on SAM (Mon to Fri) will only be updated to the embassy website the next working day after 10am. Therefore you can only schedule your interview after payments have been updated to the CGI database.
Step 4: Payment and interview appointment booking
From experience, it seems that the US embassy in Singapore only processes H1B1 visa applications twice a week, so even though the waiting time on the US embassy website shows as 1 working day, that might not be true for H1B1 visa applications.
This is why proceeding with step 2 concurrently while waiting for your LCA papers can be beneficial to speeding up the timeline. This is especially important if you need to arrive in the US slightly earlier to look for housing before the first day at your new job.
As you will need to have your physical LCA documents with you, ensure you book an appointment date with reasonable certainty that your documents from the immigration lawyers will arrive. If not, you will need to reschedule your appointment. (This would be a good time to remind them about sending out your documents asap).
To book your embassy appointment, head over to https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/ and register for a new account. You will need your DS-160 confirmation number and your visa fee payment receipt number (aka the CGI reference number) to complete this step.
During the 5th section under ‘Personal Data’, you will come across this ‘Petitioner’ section which might cause some frustration (understatement of the year).
For the receipt number, this is NOT your visa fee receipt, LCA number or your DS-160 number. This is simply an outdated yet required field. I tried everything and had to call the embassy up during office hours just to be told to put a dummy number in (shocking but true!) to bypass the validation.
As of time of writing, the dummy number ABC1234567890 works. Any other entries will just throw up an error message. It took me a while to get over this hump as no one seemed to know — lawyers who are not experienced with the H1B1 process will not know this. Mine did not even bother to reply. I wasted many days in order to figure this out.
The start and expiration dates should be provided by your lawyer.
On the very last ‘Payment’ step (the flow has changed as of Feb 2022). Two payment options are available: VFS Cash or Electronic Funds Transfer.
Regardless of which payment option you choose, click on the VFS Cash and Debit option to obtain the Deposit Slip which provides now a Virtual Account Number instead of the CGI Reference Number.
The official instruction can be found also in the Cash Deposit section in this link https://www.ustraveldocs.com/sg/sg-niv-paymentinfo.asp
Pay via Electronic Funds Transfer and be sure to use the Virtual Account Number
Once the payment is made, the Virtual Account Number can be used as the Receipt Number once its activated after 3pm the next day (see screenshot)
Use the Virtual Bank Account (instead of CGI Reference Number which was used before 2020 ) as the Receipt Number
Finally, if you have entered a valid receipt number, you will see the calendar of available appointments.
Quote from reader during covid period: “it may take a while to book a H1B1 appointment now. I scheduled the appointment in mid December and the earliest was Jan 11 ( about 4 weeks out). Then I kept on refreshing the Rescheduling Appointment page until additional dates showed up, and rescheduled to an earlier date.”
Pre covid observation: there are only 2 days available per week for the next 3 months, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There are only 3 timings a day at 915am, 945am and 1015am. Each timing has around 4–8 appointment slots.
Select your desired timing and confirm the appointment! You will receive a confirmation email.
Bonus Step 4A: Interview waiver program (NEW in 2022)
Post covid, a new option has been made available after payment. A reader went through this process in 2022 and shared the following (thanks!):
“After making the payment online to VFS Singapore, I was prompted to answer 4 Yes/No questions to determine my eligibility for the interview waiver program”
The questions asked are:
- Are you Singaporean / Permanent Resident / Long Term or Employment Status in Singapore- LTVP/ DP/ STP/ EP?
- Have you travelled to the United States on Visa Waiver(ESTA) or any other visa type?
- In your most recent visa application, were you refused a visa?
- Are there any annotations in the prior visa stating “Clearance Received”?
Immediately upon submitting my answers I was informed that I should drop off my documents under the interview waiver path”
However, we are not sure how long this new interview waiver path would be available it was originally a COVID measure.
The waiting time for the waiver program is officially given as 5–7 working days after document drop off. A friend of mine just went through this route in November 2022. It seems like making an embassy appointment and going in person would have actually been faster than the waiver program as the agency takes extra time to process your documents and adds an additional layer of hassle.
Step 5: Prep all documents for Embassy Interview
The embassy interview is a little scary just because there is such high security around getting in and out of the US embassy and everyone is usually dressed up formally for the interview (yes even the tech workers).
Plan to arrive 15minutes ahead of your appointment, no more and no less. If you are too early, they may turn you away, according to the instructions shown after you have booked an appointment online. My previous appointment was at 945am and I arrived at 930am and there was a short line outside of the embassy of people waiting to get in.
Pro tip: There is no waiting area at the entrance, and security will not allow you to loiter if you do not have an appointment. The entrance area is also outdoor and not shaded, so be prepared to bring an umbrella to shield yourself from rain/sun as you might need to wait in line.
Things to bring (printed hard copies of all the following):
- Physical copy of your recent photo taken — I used the same one I uploaded for my DS-160 online application
- ALL the documents your lawyer provided you when you filed the LCA: e.g. detailed job description, copies of your education certs/transcripts, employment agreement/invitation letter, detailed description of your job role, the company’s product and why they need to hire you specifically (instead of an American)
Pro tip: make sure you get a good lawyer who knows what the full packet should include, and how to write it up. Double check and triple check you have all your documents. Else you might get the infamous yellow sheet and have to redo your appointment— scroll all the way to my Nov 2020 update at the end of this page - Interview Appointment Letter
- DS-160 confirmation page
- Your passport (and any older copies just in case)
- any other docs you think you might need to show to the officer e.g. spouse certs, proof of property ownership in Singapore, recent travel history, police reports of official documents you lost in the past…
When you arrive, you have to get through an airport-style security checkpoint where you will be asked to leave your mobile phone and any electronic devices in their lockers. Do not bring any large items e.g. laptops as they do not have large lockers.
After you pass security, you will be guided to a large room for the interview. Prior to my first visit, I had imagined a formal room with interview booths like the ones over at ICA. But to my surprise, it was set up more like a small bank with multiple teller booths, complete with a snaking line in front of the 6–7 counters. You have to stand the whole time, there is no place to sit.
You hand over your documents to a reception to be pre-checked and get a queue number to go from counter to counter. While in the queue, I could clearly hear the questions being asked by the immigration officers and even some of the answers. The interview questions are typically quite straightforward and related to why you are going to the US e.g. your job, your salary and your family.
The H1B1 questions tend to be simpler than the questions posed to folks applying for the L1 visa, but I think it varies from officer to officer. Most of the officers are Americans, but a couple of them speak Mandarin (and weirdly enough, conducted their interview in Mandarin).
Once it's your turn, hand over your documents, answer the questions and you will know if you have been approved right away. If you are approved (I have not heard of any Singaporean not being approved for H1B1), they will retain your passport to affix the visa sticker and return it to you after 2-3 working days.
Step 6: Payment for passport delivery fees (updated as of Feb 2022)
The options to collect the passport are described here in details https://www.ustraveldocs.com/sg/sg-loc-passportcollection.asp
From our reader: “I selected delivery option together with the Payment window. There is NO payment of delivery fee during the interview. The fee is paid AFTER the interview in two ways:
- Prepare 18SGD (13.5USD) in cash and pay when the delivery man arrives
- Pay via Aramex mobile app when an SMS is received notifying you of your Aramex delivery. If online payment has been made, remember to take a screenshot to show the delivery person else he may need to call their HQ to confirm. It might be better and less hassle just to prepare the cash to pay on delivery.”
Note: Self collection used to be available via a travel agency in Chinatown (pre-covid) and it’s might have changed post covid.
Congrats! You are now ready to fly to the US!
I hope this step-by-step guide has been helpful! Please give it a clap and share it to help others find this article more easily. For those who are interested in sending a token of appreciation for the countless hours I have invested to save you so much agony, please send them to @ashley44 on venmo or use my referral links to set up the best money accounts for your SG to US relocation.
If you have additional questions about the process or moving to the US in general, do read my other article on moving to the Bay Area or leave a comment below. I will try to address them if I know the answers. (Please be reasonable with your questions though, I’m not a lawyer or an immigration help desk and I cannot help you with all of life’s mysteries).
Good luck!
Some folks have been reaching out to me via Linkedin for some follow-up questions and I am sharing the common ones for everyone’s benefit.
- Did stating that you’re a foreigner on your CV hinder your opportunities and interviews? Most job applications have a section where you have to state if you “need a sponsorship now or in the future” and use that as a filter for candidates.
A: Yes it does. However, because the h1b1 technically doesn’t require balloting or the lottery like the H1B visa, I have heard Singaporeans who indicated on their applications that they do not need sponsorship and then explain how easy the visa is to the recruiter once they get the interview. (If you indicate that you require sponsorship, almost all companies will filter you out right away.) Another anecdote from a reader: one hiring manager managed to apply for the LCA online within 10mins himself, without hiring a lawyer.
2. How long can you go on the H1B1 visa and how is the renewal process like every year?
A: I have been on it for 3 years and I know someone who was on it for 7 years. Renewal is simple, you just have to make an appointment, show up to the embassy to get a stamp, no tough questions asked.
3. What about shifting between jobs/companies?
A: Every time u change companies, you have to get a brand new H1B1 and go through the whole process all over again. Again, since it doesn’t take that long to process, you can easily do it in between jobs. A brand new H1B1 processed in Singapore takes 3–4 weeks while applying for a transfer of H1B1 between employers can take up to 3 months, so its a no-brainer.
4. In what scenario do you see the H1B visa being a better option than the H1B1 visa?
A: The H1B visa allows u to change jobs without having to reapply for a new visa. It’s also more common so employers know how to deal with it. H1B also has a 3 year renewal period which is longer than H1B1 visas. However, the H1B only lasts you 3+3 years, and after that you have to go for a Green Card. IMO, it is never beneficial for Singaporeans to get a Green Card due to US worldwide taxation rules, unless you plan to give up Singapore citizenship (with its ultra low tax rates) and live in the US permanently. Many US citizens immigrate to Singapore and give up their US citizenships, not the other way around. Do your own due dilligence.
5. Any tips for selling recruiters on the H1B1 visa?
A: You should always make it a point when applying to mention that H1B1 is a much more seamless visa compared to H1B as there’s usually confusion between the two. I have also found that tech companies tend to be more open to visa sponsorship, so you will have a better chance of trying to get one with tech companies.
6. How is the salary range for my H1B1 visa determined?
A: Thanks to a reader who helpfully sent in an update, the guidelines managers/lawyers use to determine your salary range in order to qualify for a H1B1 visa can be found here on page 7 on Wage levels.
7. When is the earliest and latest date can I arrive in the US?
A: You can arrive in the US as long as the visa is valid. You cannot fly in on a tourist visa before your US visa is valid or you may run into issues.
Update on Sept 2020:
The H1B1 is not affected by recent immigration executive orders as it’s not considered the same as a H1B. This is verified by several immigration legal teams in major tech companies. I can’t post the internal emails so you just have to trust me or do your own informal checks.
Update on Nov 2020: YELLOW SHEET
A friend of mine just went to the embassy this month. My friend is a Singaporean citizen, but moved to Singapore from China many years ago. They asked for additional info, such as the date of move to Singapore, and the number of visits to China in the last x years. Basically he/she got the infamous ‘yellow sheet’ below, and saw a few others in the queue ahead get it too. My friend allowed me to share it, but I blocked out some parts to keep details private. Make sure you go through it and have all the relevant documents needed!
Update on Feb 2022: the payment steps have significantly changed, and Singpost is no longer accepted as a payment mode.
You’ve reached the end of this really long guide
I hope this step-by-step guide has been helpful! Please give it a CLAP and share it to help others find this article more easily. For those who are interested in sending a token of appreciation for the work that went into writing and maintaining this article, please use my referral links to set up the best money accounts for your SG to US relocation or spend some time browsing my business site Carat Heritage featuring lab grown diamond jewelry such as diamond engagement rings, earrings or custom made items.
If you have additional questions about the process or moving to the US in general, do read my other article on moving to the Bay Area or leave a comment below. I will try to address them if I know the answers. (Please be reasonable with your questions though, I’m not a lawyer or an immigration help desk and I cannot help you with all of life’s mysteries)
If you would like a (paid) consult about a career in marketing/growth or moving to the US, you can send me a PM on LinkedIn.
Good luck!
