As reported on April 6, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received more H-1B cap petitions than the statutory available visas for both the general cap of 65,000 available H-1B visas and the additional 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the “master’s cap.” We understand how stressful it is for both the H-1B employers and the foreign national candidate as they await the results of the H-1B lottery (“work by lottery” program).… More
Tag Archives: H-1B Cap
Are You Ready for USCIS H-1B Site Visits or Department of Labor Audits?
Now that the FY 2019 H-1B cap has been reached, make sure you have a strong immigration compliance programs in place, particularly when it comes to Department of Homeland Security’s H-1B Site Visit program and Department of Labor H-1B/Labor Condition Application Audit program. As reported earlier this year, the government plans to step up targeted site visits and audits for H-1B cases in 2018.… More
H-1B Cap Reached for Fiscal Year 2019
Today, April 6, 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it has received more H-1B cap petitions than the statutory available visas for both the general cap of 65,000 available H-1B visas and the additional 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the “master’s cap.” Therefore as mandated, USCIS will run a computerized random selection lottery to choose the petitions that will be selected for processing.… More
What U.S. Employers Need to Know About the FY 2019 H-1B Visa Cap Season
It’s the time of year when U.S. employers are preparing for the upcoming H-1B cap petition filing season. While it appeared that USCIS was considering revising the H-1B lottery process for this fiscal year by adding a new online pre-registration step, USCIS recently confirmed that there are no changes to the process at this time. USCIS will begin accepting H-1B cap-subject petitions in the same manner as they have in years past,… More
USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for Cap Subject H-1B Petitions
As of Tuesday, September 19, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed accepting requests for premium processing for cap subject petitions. The process is only available for pending petitions, not new submissions, since USCIS received enough petitions in April to meet the FY 2018 cap. Premium processing of H1B visas was suspended in April to handle the huge rush of new petitions. However,… More
USCIS Suspends Premium Processing for ALL H-1B Petitions
Late Friday, March 3, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was indefinitely suspending premium processing for ALL H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. This suspension would mean that no FY 2018 cap-subject H-1B petitions could be filed under premium processing. The same exclusion would apply to H-1B extension petitions, H-1B Change of Employer amendment/extension petitions, and H-1B Cap exempt petitions filed on or after April 3.… More