| H-1B Beneficiary | 1) the approved petition associated with a specialty worker admitted on the basis of professional education, skills, and/or equivalent experience (the H-1B subsection uses this definition); 2) a specialty worker whose petition to work temporarily in the United States has been approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. |
| H-1B Petition | An application form used by employers seeking permission for an alien to work temporarily in the United States. An H-1B petition must be approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service before an alien specialty worker is authorized to begin or continue working in the United States. This requirement is true regardless of whether the alien is residing overseas or within the United States at the time of application. After a petition is approved, an H-1B worker is said to be a beneficiary. |
| H-1B Visa | Alien in a Specialty Occupation. |
| H-1C Visa | Nurses in health professional shortage areas. |
| H-2A Visa | Temporary Worker Performing Agricultural Services Unavailable In the United States (Petition filed on or After June 1, 1987). |
| H-2B Visa | Temporary Worker Performing Other Services Unavailable in the United States (Petition filed on or After June 1, 1987). |
| H-3 Visa | Trainee. |
| H-4 Visa | Spouse or Child of Alien Classified H-1B, H-1C, H-2A, H-2B, or H-3. |
| HA-501 | Request for Hearing by Administrative Law Judge. |
| Hemispheric Ceilings | Statutory limits on immigration to the United States in effect from 1968 to October 1978. Mandated by the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965, the ceiling on immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere was set at 170,000, with a per-country limit of 20,000. Immigration from the Western Hemisphere was held to 120,000, without a per-country limit until January 1, 1977. The Western Hemisphere was then made subject to a 20,000 per country limit. Effective October 1978, the separate hemisphere limits were abolished in favor of a worldwide limit. |