From the ISSS-BU News Update for 16 April 2007
Latest News on H-1B Cap Filings
This past week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published three updates on H-1B cap filings, on April 9, 10, and 13.
To recap the original announcement, on Tuesday April 3, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had received enough H-1B petitions as of Monday, April 2, 2007 to meet the mandated cap for Fiscal Year 2008, which begins October 1, 2007. USCIS reported that it had received more than 150,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions by Monday afternoon.
In keeping with its regulations, when the cap limit is reached on the first day of filing, a computer-generated random selection process applies, including cases filed on the "final receipt date" and the following date, which is April 3, 2007. Any cap-subject H-1B applications received on or after April 4, 2007 will be rejected.
The three updates addressed different issues. The first update, published on April 9, explained how USCIS will conduct "premium processing" for these cases. Premium Processing is a service that requires payment of a special fee of $1000.00. In return, USCIS promises to adjudicate such cases in fifteen days.
Since the random selection process for cases received on April 2 and April 3 must be conducted before any H-1B petitions can be reviewed, USCIS has determined that the fifteen day premium processing period will begin once a petition has been selected for processing through the random selection process.
To read the update, visit: http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1Bfy08PremProc040907.pdf
The second update, published on April 10, provided an update to the counting of H-1B petitions. The update stated that as of April 9, USCIS had determined that approximately 119,193 of the H1-B petitions it had received on April 2 and 3 are subject to the mandated cap, and that a review of those cases continued.
But the good news was that USCIS had only received 12,989 cases for applicants who have a U.S. master's degree or higher. Up to 20,000 petitions for applicants who have a U.S. master's degree or higher may be exempted from the mandated cap. So, this means that the cap of 20,000 for these exempt cases remains open for the time being, until the 20,000 limit is reached. Thus for this group, petitions received after April 3 will continue to be accepted until the limit is reached.
To read the update, visit: http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1Bfy08CapUpdate041007.pdf
The most recent update was published on Friday, April 13. It announced that the review and counting of those cases subject to the mandatory cap and received on April 2 and 3 had concluded, and that the random selection process took place on Thursday, April 12. The final number of cases received on those two dates that were subject to the mandatory cap was 123,480. Those petitions that were selected will receive a receipt notice. Those petitions not selected will be returned with their fees. The total process is expected to take four weeks. For those petitions selected who had requested premium processing, the 15-day premium processing period began April 12. There was no additional information on the count of those petitions who are exempt from the mandatory cap when the applicant has a U.S. master's degree or higher.
To read the update, visit: http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1Bfy08CapUpdate041307.pdf