H-1B Visas Still Available!

The US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on May 18, 2009 that it will continue to accept H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010. USCIS has only received approximately 45,500 petitions counting toward the general 65,000 cap and approximately 20,000 petitions for the 20,000 cap for aliens with advanced degrees.

This turnout contrasts with our experience in 2007 and 2008, when USCIS was immediately swamped with more petitions than visa numbers available on the first two days of the filing season beginning April 1. During those years, USCIS conducted lottery and rejected thousands of applications that were not fortunate enough to be selected in the lottery. While many still expect USCIS to reach its ceiling this year, the question is whether USCIS will still conduct lottery once the ceiling has been reached.

Last year, USCIS issued a regulation allowing a minimum window of five business days for USCIS to receive H-1B cap-subject cases and thereafter, run a random lottery selection to determine which cases filed within this window will be eligible for a cap number. This is due to the excessive number of petitions received. However, for this year, the general cap has not been met during the five-day window, giving rise to the speculation that no general lottery will be conducted. Some predict a "mini lottery" for cases filed after the five-day window if the number of additional filings exceeds the remainder of the cap. Until USCIS makes an announcement, it is not certain how the selection will be made.

One thing is certain, though. Those who failed to beat the April 1 rush can still file their petition and hope to be selected for processing. They still have time, but must act now.

Contact Bander Law Firm now to know if H-1B is an appropriate visa petition for you. H-1B is a temporary work visa for individuals with a bachelor’s or higher degree to be employed in a professional occupation. The petition must be filed by a U.S. employer on behalf of a foreign beneficiary. If the beneficiary is presently in the United States as a nonimmigrant, he must be in valid status to apply for a change of status. The petition may also be filed for a beneficiary outside the United States, in which case, the visa will be applied for and issued in the U.S. consulate in the beneficiary’s home country.

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Daniel P. Hanlon is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law and a principal of Hanlon Law Group, PC, located at 225 S. Lake Ave., 11th Floor in Pasadena, California; tel. No. (626) 585-8005. Hanlon Law Group, PC is a "full-service Immigration Law firm." E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and www.hanlon-greene.com

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published on May 23, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p C3 )

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