Articles Posted in H-1B Cap

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 cap on Monday, April 2, 2018. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked.

The cap (the numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for FY 2019 is 65,000. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap of 65,000.

Please note that USCIS will announce the start date for premium processing in the near future. See the USCIS’s Premium Processing section for more details.

As of Friday, April 2, 2018, USCIS will temporarily suspended Premium Processing for all H-1B petitions. H-1B petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker which requests the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. This temporary suspension may last up to 6 months and the USCIS will notify the public when it is resumed.

The temporary suspension applies to all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 2, 2018. Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 cap-subject H-1B petitions cannot be filed before April 2, 2018, this suspension will apply to all petitions filed for the FY 2019 H-1B regular cap and master’s advanced degree cap exemption. The suspension also applies to petitions that may be cap-exempt.

For further details please review the USCIS News Alert, “USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B Cap Petitions“.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 cap on Monday, April 2, 2018. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked.

The cap (the numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for FY 2019 is 65,000. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap of 65,000.

Please note that USCIS will announce the start date for premium processing in the near future. See the USCIS’s Premium Processing section for more details.

On Monday, September 18^th, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 cap. The FY 2018 H-1B visa cap has been set by Congress at 65,000 visas plus 20,000 additional visas set aside for applicants with a master’s degree or higher.

When a petitioner requests the agency’s premium processing service, USCIS guarantees a 15-day processing time and if that can’t be met, the agency will refund the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continue with expedited processing of that application.

For more detailed information about this subject please review the USCIS news release, “USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Some Categories of Applicants Seeking H-1B Visas”.

USCIS issued a news alert on Wednesday, July 19th stating that they have returned all fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected in their computer-generated lottery. USCIS completed the data entry of all selected H-1B cap-subject petitions on May 3rd (USCIS Completes Data Entry of Fiscal Year 2018 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions). If you submitted a cap-subject petition between April 3rd and April 7th of this year and have not received a receipt notice or a returned petition by July 31, 2017, contact USCIS for assistance.

Source of Information:

USCIS.gov, 7/19/17, News Alert:

USCIS announced (by email alert) on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 that they have completed the data entry of all Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 H-1B cap – subjected petitions that have been selected randomly through a computer generated process. USCIS will begin returning all H-1B petitions that were not selected but because of the large amount received; the return time frame is unknown. They also ask that petitioners not contact them until they have received a receipt notice or had their unselected petition returned.

For more detailed information about this subject please review the USCIS News Alert, “USCIS Completes Data Entry of Fiscal Year 2018 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions“.

Source of Information:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced that they reached the statutory H-1B cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2018 within the first week of the filing period. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap). USCIS will reject and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions that are not selected and are not duplicate filings.

USCIS will continue to accept and process H-1B petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.  Please remember that USCIS suspended premium processing starting April 3^rd for up to six months for all H-1B petitions, including cap-exempt petitions.

For more information, please read the USCIS news release, “USCIS Reaches FY 2018 H-1B Cap“.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday, March 15th that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 cap on Monday, April 3, 2017. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked.

The cap (the numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for FY 2018 is 65,000. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap of 65,000.

USCIS recently announced, “USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions”. This temporary suspension of premium processing, which is for all H-1B petitions will start April 3rd and could last up to six months. While premium processing is suspended any Form I-907 filed with an H-1B petition will be rejected. If the petitioner submits one combined check for both the Form I-907 and Form I-129 H-1B fees, both forms will be rejected.

USCIS issued a news alert on Friday, July 8th stating that they have returned all fiscal year 2017 (FY 2017) H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected in their computer-generated lottery. USCIS completed the data entry of all selected H-1B cap-subject petitions on May 2nd (USCIS Completes Data Entry of Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions). If you submitted a cap-subject petition between April 1st and April 7th of this year and have not received a receipt notice or a returned petition by July 22nd, contact USCIS for assistance.

Source of Information:

USCIS.gov, 7/8/16, News Alert:

USCIS announced (by email alert) on Monday, May 2, 2016 that they have completed the data entry of all Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 H-1B cap – subjected petitions that have been selected randomly through a computer generated process. USCIS will begin returning all H-1B petitions that were not selected but because of the large amount received; the return time frame is unknown. They also ask that petitioners not contact them until they have received a receipt notice or had their unselected petition returned.

For more detailed information about this subject please review the USCIS News Alert, “USCIS Completes Data Entry of Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions“.

Source of Information: