Posted May 17, 2012
If you are considering filing for an H-1B visa, you should do it as soon as possible. As you probably know, the U.S. government only issues a limited number of these visas each year and unless there is a visa number still available at the time of filing, the petition cannot be approved. There are currently no H-1B visa numbers available for this current fiscal year. As of May 11, 2012, for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2012, USCIS has already received 36,700 petitions designated under the 65,000 regular cap and 14,800 designated for the 20,000 U.S. Masters cap. If the pattern of filings continues, they could actually run out of numbers within the next few weeks.
For those of you who have filed H-1B petitions for students whose EAD cards have been extended until October 1, 2012 based on the filing, please be reminded that they should not travel outside the U.S. while this application is pending as a departure from the US will cancel the automatic extension of the EAD. If the EAD expires before October 1, 2012 they will lose their employment eligibility until the effective date of their approved H-1B petition (October 1, 2012).
Posted on April 9, 2012
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 9, 2012 that it will continue to accept H-1B petitions that are subject to the fiscal year (FY/2013) cap. As of April 9, 2012, it has received approximately 17,400 petitions that count towards the 65,000 cap and approximately 8,200 petitions that count towards the 20,000 cap exception for individuals with advanced U.S. degree. Many of us were concerned that with the “improved” economy, we might be facing a situation similar to the one we faced in some previous years when even companies that filed during the first week of permissible filings (this year beginning April 2, 2012) had to enter a lottery where there was only a 37% chance of being picked for an H-1B visa number. Furthermore, if anyone did not file during the first week, they had to wait an entire year for the next series of H-1B visa numbers to become available.
The bottom line is that it is definitely not too late to file an H-1B petition for a prospective employee. Considering that almost twice as many H-1B petitions were filed last week as compared to the first week of April of the previous two years, and especially considering that a new group of H-1B eligible beneficiaries will be graduating during the next month or two, the prudent thing to do would be to file as soon as possible.