| USCIS makes several important announcements concerning H-1B CAP |
USCIS makes several important announcements concerning H-1B CAP
Employers are barred from filing duplicate H-1B applications for the same employee (even if the petitions are for different positions). There is an exception for related companies that file more than one petition for the same employee. All petitions by an employer for an employee will be barred if there are duplicate filings.
* Applications received on any of the first five business days beginning April 1st will be included in any lottery of H-1B petitions (this past year it was only for day one and two).
* Petitioners claiming to be exempt from the cap who are later found to be subject to the cap will not get a refund of their fees.
* If an application is received before April 1st, it will be rejected and a petition is deemed received when USCIS gets the application and stamps it received as opposed to the date it is postmarked.
* Premium processing will not start until after the random selection process has been completed.
* Master's cap cases (the 20,000 H-1Bs reserved for graduates of US graduate degree programs) will be adjudicated first and if there is a lottery for those cases, cases not selected in the master's cap will be thrown in to the general lottery for the 65,000 H-1Bs available.
What to Expect from the H-1B Interim Final Rule
DHS/USCIS announced on 3/19/08 that it has transmitted to the Federal Register an interim final rule regarding H-1B filing that would:
* Change from 2 days to 5 days the period of time during which cap-subject H-1Bs can be received to be included in any "lottery" that would occur if, as expected, the number of petitions exceeds the quota.
* Prohibit multiple filings from the same employer for the same employee, even if the filings are for different jobs. The one exception would be that related employers could file separate petitions for the same employee.
* Result in the denial or revocation (without refund of fees) of any petition found to have been a multiple filing.
* Change the lottery system so that the 20,000 U.S. advanced degree cap cases are selected first. If any advanced degree cases are left after that process, they would go into the overall 65,000 pool.
* State that no refunds will be made on cases where someone incorrectly claims a cap exemption.
USCIS also indicated that it will continue to accept letters from authorized officials of schools indicating that a student has completed the requirements for a degree (i.e., all papers, exams, etc.) and is merely awaiting official conferral of the degree.