The Need for Speed: The Role of Employers in Immigrant Work Visa Acceleration and Approval

Abstract

Why are some immigrant work visa applications processed and approved in a matter of days, while others languish for months before receiving a decision? We contend that the relative dissimilarity between a focal visa application and an employer’s past work visa filings is a key, yet unstudied, strategic value consideration affecting the sponsoring firm’s engagement with the regulatory bureaucracy. Using U.S. CIS administrative records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act detailing all H-1B visa applications from 2006 to 2015, we analyze employers’ acceleration of select applications through the “premium processing” program, which guarantees an initial visa decision in 15 days in exchange for a $1,225 per-application payment. We find that employers are more likely to use premium processing for immigrants whose countries of birth, prospective jobs, and educational experiences are dissimilar relative to the applications previously filed by that employer. Further, employers less frequently withdraw or abandon dissimilar applications, and request longer employment durations in these dissimilar applications. In contrast to prior arguments regarding immigrants’ regulatory and employment success, we argue that immigrants identical on observables and migration inclination may fare differently in the U.S. immigration system depending on their dissimilarity within the context of their sponsoring employer.