Insight, News, and Strategy on Immigration Matters Around the World
For the fourth year in a row, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the statutory cap for H-1B cap-subject petitions within the first five business days of April.
For fiscal year (FY) 2017, the cap was reached on April 7, 2016 as USCIS received over 236,000 petitions, setting an all-time record. USCIS completed…
The H-1B visa category is the most popular nonimmigrant work visa category in the U.S. under which employers sponsor skilled, professional workers for employment. This is largely because it allows foreign graduates in the U.S. for university undergraduate and graduate education to work in the U.S. after graduation. H-1B regulations stipulate that to qualify for…
Each year, USCIS issues 65,000 H-1B visas and 20,000 “master’s cap” visas. April 1, 2016 is he first date on which an H-1B petition may be filed for FY 2017, in anticipation of an October 1, 2016 start date. Last year, USCIS accepted 233,000 petitions in the first week. A lottery was conducted and over…
On May 4, 2015, USCIS announced that it has completed data entry of all fiscal year 2016 H-1B cap-subject petitions. USCIS had previously announced on April 13, 2015 that it had received 233,000 petitions submitted by petitioners seeking H-1B employment status for employees to commence employment on October 1, 2015. That number represented an increase…
Today, USCIS announced that it had completed the H-1B lottery selection and that it had received approximately 233,000 petitions for fiscal year 2016 beginning in October 2015. Last year, USCIS received 172,500 petitions. The numbers this year mean that there was an increase of over 35% from last year. USCIS randomly selected petitions to meet…
On April 7, 2015, USCIS announced that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 2016 beginning on October 1, 2015. USCIS has not yet announced the total number of applications received or the date on which it will conduct the random selection process. A random computer selection process …
AUTHOR: Helen Pihlstrom.
Employers who have submitted cap-subject H-1B petitions should remember that additional actions may be necessary by their current employees who are working pursuant to F-1 Optional Practical Training employment authorization, or OPT. In many cases, an employee’s OPT employment authorization will expire in the spring or summer after an H-1B cap petition…
Due to high demand, businesses must be ready to file their completed H-1B petitions on April 1. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allocates 65,000 new H-1B visas each fiscal year, running October 1 – September 30. 20,000 more H-1Bs are reserved for individuals who received a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. educational…
