U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that H-1B cap-subject petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2021, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may now be filed with USCIS if based on a valid selected registration. An employer is only eligible to file an FY 2021 H-1B cap-subject petition if they electronically registered …
Continue reading Selected H-1B Cap Petitions May Be Filed as of April 1
This year, employers seeking to hire new H-1B workers, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must first electronically register and pay a $10 H-1B registration fee to determine if they may file an H-1B cap-subject petition. Here are the key dates H-1B employers and employees need to know: February 24: Employers may begin …
Continue reading H-1B Cap Alert – Key Dates You Must Know to Compete for an H-1B Visa
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration they submit to USCIS. Because USCIS must expend resources to implement and maintain the H-1B registration system, and because USCIS operations are funded by fees …
Continue reading USCIS Proposes New Electronic Registration Fee for H-1B Cap Subject Visa Petitions
USCIS will begin premium processing for all remaining FY2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions on 6/10/19. Petitioners may file a Request for Premium Processing Service, with the USCIS service center processing their petition on that date. More information can be found at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/premium-processing-begins-remaining-h-1b-cap-subject-petitions-june-10.
From the USCIS: USCIS has completed data entry for all fiscal year 2020 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in our computer-generated random selection process, including those selected under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. As in previous years, we will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that we did not select and will issue an announcement …
Continue reading USCIS Completes Data Entry of Fiscal Year 2020 H-1B Cap Subject Petitions
WASHINGTON— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the start of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap season, start dates for premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions, and the launch of its new H-1B data hub, while reminding petitioners of its new H-1B cap selection process. These new efforts underscore the agency’s commitment …
As expected, the government has significantly changed the H-1B visa rules for H-1B visa applications subject to annual numerical limitations ("H-1B cap"). The new rule (1) adds an electronic registration requirement for employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, and (2) reverses the order of selecting petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree ("master's …
Continue reading H-1B Visa Lottery Change Could Favor Employees with U.S. Master’s Degree or Higher
Employers who still have pending H-1B cap petitions filed in April 2018 can now request premium processing of those cases. Even though the USCIS has taken nearly a year to decide these petitions, an employer can't be sure when its petition will be processed unless it agrees to pay the steep $1410 premium processing price. …
Continue reading Premium Processing is now available for last year’s pending H-1B cap cases.
September 30 marked the end of work authorization for F-1 students who were working based upon their pending "cap-gap" H-1B petitions. Until the H-1B petition is decided, these students can remain in the U.S. but must stop working as of October 1. If the student continues working, he or she will no longer have legal …
USCIS Announcment: On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2019. USCIS received 190,098 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 2, including petitions filed for …
Ann Massey Badmus 