Immigration News Briefs
H-1B employer registration proposal
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has
announced a proposed rule that would require petitioners
seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to register
electronically with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) during a designated registration period;
the rule would also reverse the order by which the agency
selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B cap and the advanced
degree exemption.
The proposed electronic registration period would begin at least 14 calendar days before the first date the H-1B filing window opens each fiscal year, commonly April 1, and would remain open for at least 14 calendar days. USCIS would give at least 30 calendar days' notice of the registration period on the USCIS website.
The rule proposes that petitioners whose petitions are selected will be notified that they are eligible to file an H-1B petition within a designated filing period. The duration of the filing period for registrants who are selected would be at least 60 days.
A registrant could therefore wait until they have been notified of selection before submitting the corresponding H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary named in the selected registration. USCIS would hold some unselected H-1B registrations in reserve so that additional cases could be filed if the quota is not reached due to petition rejections, denials, or withdrawals, or if an employer does not file an H-1B petition on behalf of a selected beneficiary. USCIS could reopen registrations if more cases are needed to fulfill the annual quota.
Petitioners would need to file a separate registration for each beneficiary and would be limited to one registration per beneficiary for the same fiscal year. USCIS is not proposing to charge a fee for electronic registration at this time.
Allocation of H-1B cap numbers
The second major change proposed by DHS is to
reverse the order by which the agency selects H-1B petitions
under the H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption.
Currently, in years when the H-1B cap and the advanced
degree exemption are both reached within the first five
days in which H-1B cap petitions may be filed, the advanced
degree exemption beneficiaries are selected before the H-1B
cap beneficiaries.
The proposed rule would reverse the selection order and count all applicants towards the number projected as needed to reach the regular H-1B cap first. Once a sufficient number of applicants have been selected for the H-1B cap, USCIS would then select applicants towards the advanced degree exemption. USCIS projects that this change in the process would result in a 16% increase in the number of selected beneficiaries with a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.
APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR January 2019
|
FAMILY |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
22Aug11 |
22Aug11 |
|
2A |
08Nov16 |
08Nov16 |
|
2B |
15Mar12 |
15Mar12 |
|
3rd |
15Aug06 |
15Aug06 |
|
4th |
15Jun04 |
22May05 |
|
EMPLOYMENT |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
15Dec16 |
01Oct17 |
|
2nd |
01Apr09 |
Current |
|
3rd |
01Mar09 |
Current |
|
Other |
01Mar09 |
Current |
|
4th |
Current |
Current |
|
5th |
Current |
Current1B |
DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - January 2019
|
FAMILY |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
08Mar12 |
08Mar12 |
|
2A |
01Dec17 |
01Dec17 |
|
2B |
22Mar14 |
22Mar14 |
|
3rd |
08Jan07 |
08Jan07 |
|
4th |
01Jan05 |
15May06 |
|
EMPLOYMENT |
India |
Pakistan/Bangladesh |
|
1st |
01Oct17 |
01Jun18 |
|
2nd |
22May09 |
Current |
|
3rd |
01Apr10 |
Current |
|
Other |
01Apr10 |
Current |
|
4th |
Current |
Current |
|
5th |
Current |
Current1B |
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