Race for H-1B visas in 2009

New update from US Embassy :

Now its official. USCIS announced today that “We have received about 163,000 H1B petitions for year 2009 that starts from 1st of October 2008. About 31,200 of those are for Master or post graduate Degree category. Even this time we will have lottery system for visa allocation.

Even as the contest for filing H-1B work permit applications for economic year 2009 hots up, the US Embassy in Delhi is anxious over the growing number of fraudulent petitions from India. Peter G Kaestner, minister counsellor for consular affairs and consul-general at the US Embassy in Delhi, told ET: “The number of bogus appeal for H1B visas from India being filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is on the rise. This has cause huge concern because it unfavorably impacts authentic business people from India who may lose out because the number of H1B visas issued every year is capped at 65,000.”

Previous year, H1B visa cap was reached within a day of the start of the application process on April 1, 2007. This year too, experts and lawyers sense that the quota for fiscal 2009 will be filled up within a couple of hours after USCIS starts tolerant application on April 1, 2008.

“USCIS sends the petitions to us for verification after the applications are filed and last year we’ve found many cases of people who were job shoppers filing applications through bogus companies for H1Bs. We have also unearth cases of frauds in student travel permit requests from India, including a college in the US philanthropic out fraudulent 1-20 SEVIS forms to students who did not qualify for the courses.

Therefore, we have to be more careful this year in scanning the documents,” added Mr Kaestner. For the financial year 2007, the in general non-immigrant category US visas subject in India went up by 58% to 7,25,532. Of this, H1 visas were up to 72,288 from 55,017 in financial year 2006.

FY 2009 H-1B Cap Update

FY 2009 H-1B Cap Update From AILA’s Service Center Operations Committee

Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 08021230 (posted Feb. 12, 2008)”

AILA’s Service Center Operations Liaison Committee discussed several issues regarding the upcoming H-1B filing “season,” as well as recently-announced filing changes for institutions of higher learning, their affiliates, and research institutions on February 6, 2008. (See AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 08013133.) The following is an unofficial summary of the Q & A with SCOPS.

1. Should Premium Processing be used for cap-subject filings?

USCIS expects that the cap-subject H-1B receipt volume will be similar to last year. While Premium Processing is currently available, it may need to be suspended (as it was last year) for some period of time. USCIS understands that Premium Processing is used to get a quicker receipt. However, attorneys may want to consider waiting to see if a petition receives a cap number and then interfile the I-907. If there are any official changes to the Premium Processing option for these cases, USCIS will let AILA know. If you decide to file cases concurrently with Premium Processing make sure that clients are aware that the 15 days may not be guaranteed if there is a change to the program.

2. Can a petitioner file duplicate H-1B filings to increase chances of obtaining a cap number?

USCIS is currently drafting a regulation to address this question, expected to be published in the coming weeks, which will contain some sort of prohibition on the filing of duplicate cases. The definition of what is considered a “duplicate” will be addressed in that regulation. Please note that it is AILA’s understanding that a petition filed under both the regular and the master’s cap would not be considered a duplicate, but we will need to wait for the regulation to confirm.

3. What will happen to cap cases filed in the wrong Service Center?

Members should make sure to follow the guidance provided by USCIS on where to file their cases. Cap-subject cases should be filed based on the jurisdiction of the worksite. (For Direct Filing addresses, see AILA InfoNet Doc. 07030964.) Cases that are filed at a wrong service center will be rejected.

4. What about e-filing?

E-filing will not be available for I-129 H petitions, including those which are cap-exempt.

5. Please clarify what petitions are to be filed at the CSC. Is it any petition that is not subject to cap-counting, including both cap-exempt and those already counted, or is it limited to petitions from institutions of higher learning, their affiliates, and non-profit and governmental research institutions?

On February 1, 2008, the USCIS published a USCIS Update designating the CSC as the place to file petitions by institutions of higher education and organizations and affiliated entities, and non-profit and governmental research institutions. (See AILA InfoNet Doc. 08013133) Petitions for cap-exempt individuals (e.g., petitions for physicians to serve in shortage areas) and petitions for aliens already counted are to be filed according to established jurisdictional rules. (See AILA InfoNet Doc. 07030964) A formal Federal Register notice in filing locations is in process. Until the notice is published in the Federal Register, H-1B cap-exempt petitioners are encouraged to file at the CSC under the terms of the USCIS Update. SCOPS advises that for the present time those sent to other service centers will not be rejected, but will be relocated. Once the formal Federal Register notice is published, filing those petitions at the CSC will be mandatory and petitions filed incorrectly will be rejected.

Source: http://www.usvisa.com/fy_2009_h1b_cap_update.shtml