Due to the passage of Employ American Workers Act (EAWA), as part of the Stimulus Bill, USCIS is required to collect TARP (and Section 13 funding) information on each H-1B petitioner. However, by the time the new form became available, many practitioners had already completed their packages for the H-1B cap filing period for April [...]
USCIS today released updated information on the numbers of cap-subject H-1Bs filed since April 1. As of Thursday, April 9, USCIS has received approximately 42,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap. USCIS will continue to accept petitions subject to the general cap. Additionally, USCIS has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees; [...]
The USCIS announced today (April 8, 2009) that within the first five business days, it received almost half the petitions needed to meet the FY2010 cap and has received just short of the 20,000 needed to reach the master’s cap. This means that there will be no general H-1B lottery this year for both master’s [...]
The Optional Practical Training (OPT) program allows foreign students on F-1 visa to work for 12 (or up to 29 months, for holders of STEM degrees). The 12 (or 29) month period allows many students to apply for an H-1B work visa. Many employers (and OPT holders alike) are unaware of what happens when the [...]
The filing window for Fiscal Year 2010 (starting October 1, 2009) cap-subject H-1B petitions opened today. All of the cap-subject H-1B filings filed by our firm were successfully delivered at their respective USCIS service centers. Our first impression was that FedEx's service was very reliable and all H-1B filings were delivered early in the morning [...]
Many of our clients have asked us whether there will be a lottery during this year’s H-1B filing season and if there will be one, how the lottery would work. Amid difficult economic times and increasing jobless rate, it is expected that the H-1B applications this year will be less than they were in April [...]
We have mentioned previously in some of our articles the planned replacement of the current PERM and LCA filing systems. Although the replacement of these two systems does not necessarily affect employees and employers as much as it affects immigration attorneys (as immigration attorneys prepare these filings most often), it is helpful to monitor the [...]
USCIS has released a memorandum, dated March 20, 2009, which provides additional clarifications about H-1B sponsorship by companies which are recipients of TARP funds. We have written extensively about these restrictions earlier this year but there were still questions outstanding. This USCIS guidance should provide final clarify on the subject. The restrictions apply to any Labor [...]
The cap-subject H-1B filing season opens on April 1 which is only 9 business days away. Although the demand for H-1B visas is expected to be lower this year than previous years, it is expected that the demand for H-1B visas will still exceed the available H-1B visa numbers and it is very possible that [...]
The California Service Center (CSC) has issued guidance on what kind of documentation is satisfactory to show that an H-1B beneficiary has completed his or her degree requirements. It is important to note that an H-1B visa application must be filed only after all degree requirements are met, even if the diploma has not been [...]