Pauly P.A. – German-American Law Firm

Tag: H-1B

  • H-1B visa cap reached for FY 2018

    Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it has reached the congressionally mandated 65,000 visa H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.

    The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not duplicate filings.

    See the official press release here: https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-reaches-fy-2018-h-1b-cap

  • USCIS Now Accepts Applications for Employment Authorizations for Certain H-4 Spouses

    Certain H-4 dependent spouses may now apply for employment authorization under the H-4 rule. Effective May 26, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun accepting applications for employment authorization from certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status.
    Please read the announcement here.

    Eligible H-4 spouses can find more information and the application form here.

  • USCIS Reaches FY 2016 H-1B Cap

    This just posted by USCIS:

    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 capsubject 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.
    We encourage H-1B applicants to subscribe to the H-1B Cap Season email updates located on the H-1B Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Cap
    Season Web page. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Facebook (/uscis), Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.
    Last Reviewed/Updated: 04/07/2015

  • USCIS Will Accept H-1B Petitions for FY 2016 Beginning April 1, 2015

    USCIS posts today that it will begin accepting FY2016 H-1B petitions on 4/1/15.

    USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the 65,000 H-1B cap during the first five business days of this year’s program and as in previous years will randomly select the cap-subject petitions for processing using a lottery system. All petitions not selected or submitted after the first 5 days will be rejected.

    Please find the complete USCIS Press Release here: http://www.uscis.gov/news/uscis-will-accept-h-1b-petitions-fiscal-year-2016-beginning-april-1-2015

     

  • As of 4/4/2012, USCIS has already received 22,323 H-1B visa application received

    AILA Liaison learned at a CSC/VSC stakeholder engagement on 4/5/2012 that USCIS has received 22,323 cap-subject H-1B petitions as of 4/4/2012. Approximately 25% of the cases are for U.S. advanced degrees.

    AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12040553 (posted Apr. 5, 2012)