Apr 3 2007

USCIS REACHES FY 2008 H-1B CAP

The USCIS announced today that it has received enough H-1B visa petitions to meet the Fiscal Year 2008 cap. USCIS comments that they will use a random selection process for all the H-1B filings subject to the cap that were received on April 2 and April 3. Any petition received on those days but not chosen in the random selection process will be rejected and returned to the petitioner, along with the filing fee. In addition, any cap-subject petitions received on or after April 4, 2007 will be rejected. The earliest point that H-1B visas, subject to this cap, can be re-submitted will be April 1, 2008, when visas become available for Fiscal Year 2009.

As of end-of-day, Monday, USCIS received roughly 150,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions. The next step will be for USCIS to perform initial data entry of all those filings. Because of the amount of petitions received, we expect the random selection process will not begin for at least several weeks.

As of today, USCIS is not sure how many petitions were received for exemption H-1B visas, those 20,000 visas reserved for international petitioners with masters’ or higher degrees received in the U.S. USCIS will soon make an announcement regarding these petitions.

In addition, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed on behalf of H-1B workers that do not count toward the H-1B cap. These petitions include cases to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.; change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; allow current H-1B workers to change employers; or allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

USCIS also notes that any other H-1B cases that are exempted from the cap will not be affected by this announcement.