On Friday, May 22, 2015 USCIS announced that it would be temporarily suspending premium processing for all H-1B Extension of Stay Petitions beginning May 26, 2015 to July 27, 2015 due to the high volume of anticipated applications for employment authorization under the H-4 final rule. During this time period,…
USCIS released guidance on May 22, 2015 to clarify Administrative Appeal Office (AAO)’s precedent decision on April 9, 2015 on Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC that all employers must file amended H-1B petitions when a new Labor Condition Application for Nonimmigrant Workers (LCA) is required due to a change in…
By Ekaterina Powell, Esq. For many years, it has been unsettled in the law and practice whether a change in H-1B employee’s job location is considered to be a “material change” in the terms of employment, requiring filing of an H-1B amendment petition. Prior Guidance According to USCIS unofficial guidance…
Today, May 4, 2015 USCIS announced that data entry for all H-1B cap-subject petitions has been completed for the 2016 fiscal year. USCIS is scheduled to begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected in the computer-generated random lottery held early last month. Since USCIS received an unprecedented…
On April 13, 2015, USCIS has announced that it has reached the H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2016. Nearly 233,000 H-1B petitions were received for this filing period, including petitions filed for the master’s cap, which is about 60,500 more in total than last year. Roughly, this year’s chances…
Today, April 7, 2015, USCIS announced that it has reached the H-1B cap for FY2016. Before running the lottery, USCIS will complete initial intake for all filings received during the filing period. Initial intake/review will sort out multiple or duplicate H-1B petitions filed by an employer for one employer. Regulations…
Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for fiscal year (FY) 2016. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U.S. advanced degree exemption. USCIS will use a computer-generated process, also known as the lottery, to…
If a petitioner filed an FY16 H-1B cap petition in a timely manner for the fiscal year 2016 and has received notification from the delivery service used suggesting that there may be a delay or damage to the package, the petitioner may file a second H-1B petition. The second H-1B…
Today, on February 24, 2015, USCIS announced that effective May 26, 2015 it will extend eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants to allow them to accept employment in the U.S. Finalizing the H-4 work authorization was an important step toward implementation of the President’s…
By Marie Puertollano, Esq. Our firm has started to work on H1B visa applications for our clients. We want to be sure none of our clients miss the April 1st deadline. April 1 is the date when H-1B can be filed at the earliest. Only 65,000 visas are available for…