U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released additional details about the FY 2024 H-1B electronic registration that ran in March 2023. One item of interest is that the number of registrants (individuals) with only one submission saw a relatively modest increase from 309k to 350k, while the number of registrants with multiple submissions more than doubled from 165k to 409k. In contrast, the first year of the H-1B Cap Registration program (FY2021) saw only 28k individuals with multiple submissions – an increase of 1,454% in just three years.
Continue Reading USCIS Releases FY2024 Cap Registration Statistics and Announces Measures to Combat Fraud
H-1B
Premium Processing Service Suspension Expanded
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that the suspension of premium processing for FY2019 H‑1B cap cases, announced on March 21, 2018, has been extended until possibly February 2019.
USCIS also announced that effective September 11, 2018, premium processing will be suspended for H‑1B cases filed at the Vermont and California…
Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B Cycle Officially Over
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that it has now completed returning all petitions that were not selected in the Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B lottery. Employers who filed petitions should now have received either a Form I-797 receipt notice with assigned receipt number, or the original rejected petition including filing fees. USCIS will…
FY2019 H-1B Cap Reached
The USCIS announced today that the FY2019 H-1B cap has been met. The USCIS will hold a lottery for the H-1B visas as early as next week. Those selected will receive receipt notices in the mail; those rejected will have their filings returned, along with the filing fee checks. We expect that the receipt notices…
Buckle Your Seatbelts: 2018 Will Be a Watershed Year in Business Immigration
If 2017 is any indication, the new year will bring a fresh cascade of changes – both announced and unannounced, anticipated and unanticipated – in the business immigration landscape. Few, if any, of these changes are expected to be good news for U.S. businesses and the foreign workers they employ.
In 2017, while much of the news media focused on the Trump Administration’s draconian changes to practices and policies that affected the undocumented – including ending the DACA Dreamer program, shutting down Temporary Protected Status for citizens of countries ravished by war and natural disaster, and aggressively enforcing at the southern border and in “sensitive” locations such as churches, courthouses, and homeless shelters – relatively less attention has been paid to the steady, incremental erosion of rights and options for legal immigrants, particularly those who are sponsored for work by U.S. employers, under the Administration’s April 2017 “Buy American / Hire American” executive order. There is no doubt that such restrictions to the legal immigration system will continue to cause business uncertainty and disruption in 2018. Here’s what to expect:…
Continue Reading Buckle Your Seatbelts: 2018 Will Be a Watershed Year in Business Immigration
UPDATE – USCIS Reinstates Premium Processing for All H-1B petitions
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that premium processing has been reinstated for all H-1B cases. As of today, petitioners may file H-1B petitions requesting premium processing and may upgrade currently pending H-1B petitions to premium processing.
USCIS Expects to Reinstate Premium Processing for All H-1B petitions on or Before October 3, 2017
Although no official statement has been issued, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced during a call with the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Service Center Operations Liaison Committee that it expects to resume premium processing for all H-1B cases on or before October 3, 2017. We will update this post as soon as…
USCIS Reinstates Premium Processing for FY 2018 Cap Subject H-1B petitions
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today the reinstatement of premium processing for H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2018 cap. USCIS previously reinstated premium processing for H-1B petitions filed on behalf of Conrad 30 waivers recipients and those filed by certain H-1B cap-exempt petitioners.
USCIS expects to resume premium …
USCIS Reinstates Premium Processing for Certain Cap-Exempt Petitioners
Today, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced the reinstatement of premium processing service for H-1B petitions filed by certain cap-exempt petitioners. In addition to petitioners who seek to employ physicians who are recipients of Conrad 30 waivers, H-1B petitioners who meet the following criteria may now also request premium processing:
- Institutions of
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USCIS Announces Return of H-1B Premium Processing
The USCIS announced on June 23, 2017, that it will reintroduce Premium Processing for H-1B petitions. USCIS suspended this program for all H-1B petitions on April 3, 2017.
Continue Reading USCIS Announces Return of H-1B Premium Processing