H1B Cap Updates

Attorney_6

By Attorney_6,
in H1B : General

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Attorney_6 Advanced Member

Attorney_6

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This week, the Murthy Law Firm attorneys will answer questions about the Fiscal Year 2016 H1B cap filings.

 

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a2zl2s Newbie

a2zl2s

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USCIS Reaches FY 2016 H-1B Cap
Release Date: April 07, 2015

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2016. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption.

USCIS will use a computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to randomly select the petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 visas for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption.

USCIS will first randomly select petitions for the advanced degree exemption. All unselected advanced degree petitions will become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 general limit. The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not duplicate filings.

Before running the lottery, USCIS will complete initial intake for all filings received during the filing period, which ended April 7. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the date it will conduct the random selection process.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the congressionally mandated FY 2016 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

  • Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
  • Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
  • Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
  • Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position. U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming.
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a2zl2s Newbie

a2zl2s

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USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 7, 2015 that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2016. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the advanced degree exemption, also known as the masters cap.   

USCIS received about nearly 233,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 1, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 13, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing.

The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

As announced on March 12, 2015, USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases no later than May 11, 2015. 

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Attorney_6 Advanced Member

Attorney_6

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Actually, it is about 35%, but, dismal in any event. Somewhat better for advanced degree cases. They are included in the advanced degree lottery for the 20k exemptions and, then, if not selected, they get a second chance in the regular lottery. Still a major problem and bad situation all around.

 

We just started getting a few premium processing receipts this morning.

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Attorney_6 Advanced Member

Attorney_6

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Ashuneel,

The lottery process has been completed. The April 13th announcement was referenced/posted in this thread. The receipt notices from PP started arriving the following day. But, so far, as of right now, it is just a small number of receipts. I am sure there will be more coming.  

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Attorney_6 Advanced Member

Attorney_6

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Vermont's PP email system was down, so, as of the 17th, none of the email notices went out.

 

While email notices do come pretty quickly, there is a data entry component involved. Thus, so far (not including what we may receive today), it has just been a trickle.

 

No one should assume anything right now. Last year, we got approvals for some PP cases before others even got receipts.

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