USCIS has just completed the second round of the H-1B cap selection lottery and notified the selected applicants. The August 2023 selection round was due to the fact that a (significant) number of H-1B cap registrations [...]
USCIS has finally released details of the numbers of H-1B cap registrations for the upcoming fiscal year and the numbers are well above expectations in a number of ways. USCIS reported that out of a total of 780,888 [...]
Since the H-4 EAD rule became effective in May 2015, our office has assisted many eligible H-4 spouses secure work authorization under the H-4 EAD program. We continue to applaud USCIS’s efforts to allow certain H-4 spouses to apply for [...]
With the approaching H-1B cap filing season, one of the most common concerns we are hearing from both prospective H-1B employers and candidates is about the H-1B cap lottery and the fact that the random lottery does not provide a great chance of an H-1B application being selected for review. Our office has handled thousands [...]
Our office has been receiving an increasing number of inquiries and reports of situations where USCIS would deny a pending I-539 H-4 application (sometimes with a concurrent I-765 H-4 EAD) based on a prior employer’s H-1B petition [...]
USCIS announced that as of August 23, 2022 they have reached the H-1B cap limit for fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023). This means that they will not be conducting additional lottery rounds of selection like they have been doing in past years; this also means that all H-1B cap registrants who were not selected under [...]
Update: March 2024. Starting FY2025 H-1B cap season, USCIS will switch to beneficiary-centric selection process which will count each beneficiary only once for registration selection purposes. See more details about the new rule. Update: March 2022. Starting FY2023 H-1B cap season, USCIS requires H-1B registrant employers to make an additional attestation which reads, I further [...]
USCIS has just completed the third round of the H-1B cap selection lottery and notified the selected applicants. The November 2021 selection round was due to the fact that a (still significant) number of H-1B cap [...]
In a legal settlement effective as of November 10, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has agreed to change its policies regarding L-2 and H-4 employment authorization document (EAD) applications. USCIS was challenged in a lawsuit (Shergill et al, v Mayorkas, 21-cv-1296-RSM) as a result of long-delayed EAD applications for certain nonimmigrant spouses. Under [...]
USCIS has recently announced that they will allow H-1B petitioners of certain denied H-1B petitions to petition USCIS to reopen (and hopefully, approve) the denial decision in light of certain now-rescinded policy memoranda (third-party worksite placements’ [...]
