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Immigration News Briefs

Provided by Humera Subhani

May 2018

H-1B Cap Random Selection for FY 2019 Completed
On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2019.

USCIS received 190,098 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 2, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS announced on April 6 that it had received enough petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 and the master’s cap of 20,000.

Selection for the master’s cap was conducted first. All unselected master’s cap petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 cap.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted towards the FY 2019 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to
• Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
• Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
• Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
• Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

Applications were down this year, even more than last year. This could be due to stricter guidelines, in the form of memos released by DHS, which require much more documentation in support of H-1Bs for third party placements. These memos have been referenced in previous Khabar Immigration columns. This has had a dampening effect for many companies, especially in the IT field, who are discouraged by the upturn in denials of H-1B petitions.

Members of Congress Support H-4 EADs
Fifteen members of Congress wrote a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in March 2018 to urge her to reconsider the DHS plan to terminate the program that allows certain H-4 spouses to obtain H-4 EAD.

U.S. Congressional members from California argue that terminating the H-4 EAD program would create significant financial hardship and uncertainty for many highly skilled professionals and their families. H-4 spouses also help the U.S. economy to grow, as many H-4 spouses employ U.S. citizens through starting their own companies; so ending the program would also result in the loss of jobs for Americans.

The H-4 EAD program was in jeopardy earlier this year, but the rule to rescind EADs was delayed from February until June 2018. As of December 25, 2017, there were 90,946 new applications and 35,219 extension applications.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR May 2018

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	08Apr11	08Apr11
2A	01June16	01June16
2B	15May11	15May11
3rd	01Feb06	01Feb06
4th	01Mar04	01Oct04

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Jan12	Current
2nd	22Dec08	Current
3rd	01May08	Current
Other	01May08	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - May 2018

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	08Jan12	08Jan12
2A	22Sep17	22Sep17
2B	08Sep11	08Sep11
3rd	08Sep06	08Sep06
4th	01Dec04	01Apr05

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Apr09	Current
3rd	01Sep08	Current
Other	01Sep08	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B