The USCIS has produced a fraud audit and compliance assessment report which aims to analyze the level of potential fraud, misrepresentation or lack of compliance in H-1B visa filings. The Sample To conduct the analysis, USCIS took a random sample of 246 H-1B petitions (out of a total of 96,827) which were filed, approved, or pending between [...]
October 1 is exactly one week away, and there are many H-1B applicants who have already had their petitions approved and are waiting eagerly the start of their H-1B period. However, there are a number of applicants who have been picked in the lottery but have not yet received anything from USCIS regarding their H-1B [...]
Following the H-1B lottery, where roughly half of the applications were rejected in the lottery, we are providing an overview of the pending H-1B relief bills in Congress. The main piece of legislation in connection with H-1B relief is the SKIL Bill (HR 1930, S 1083). The bill would raise the H-1B cap to 115,000 and provide for market-based increase if the cap has been reached during the previous years. The bill would also exempt from the cap professionals with U.S. master's or higher degrees AND some medical specialty certificate awardees. Finally, the SKIL Bill contemplates including into the 20,000 advanced degree cap holders of advanced degree from non-U.S. educational institutions. Please read the full article for more details on the pending bills in Congress seeking to provide H-1B relief.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced May 1, 2008, that it has imposed a civil fine of $45,000 to iGate Mastech, Inc., a Pittsburgh computer consulting company in connection with the company's alleged discrimination against United States citizens in its employment practices and advertisements. Please read the full article for details on this civil fine settlement.
The USCIS announced late last week that it would permit F-1 students who have properly filed H-1B petitions in April and have their petition selected during the random lottery to request a change of status processing in lieu of consular notification. Please read the full article for details on the procedure.
The Washington Post published today an article about the H-1B visa program and how its benefits and problems affect immigrants, employers and American workers. The article is fairly short but it compresses the feelings of the three major stakeholders in the H-1B visa program debate. The U.S. Employers The H-1B program was designed to help U.S. companies [...]
Over the past few days we have been asked on numerous occasions - what happens to my OPT when my H-1B is approved? Can I withdraw my H-1B? The answer is 'Yes', but you must act quickly and with the cooperation of the employer sponsoring the H-1B visa. Read the full article for more details.
USCIS had released a preliminary count of the H-1B applications filed during the period between April 1 and April 7, 2008. There are 163,000 H-1B petitions and more than 31,200 of those were for the advanced degree category.
As expected, USCIS announced earlier today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the cap for fiscal year 2009. The 20,000 H-1B cap for holders of advanced degrees has also been reached.
We have received some inquiries from clients regarding the FedEx service disruption and how it may affect the H-1B filings. We wanted to address the issue and hopefully allow concerned H-1B petitioners that the disruption should not affect their petition.