USCIS to accept H-1B petitions For Fiscal Year 2016- Beginning April 1, 2015

The H-1B program is usually used by the business houses of U.S in order to offer employment to foreign workers in varied occupations which generally requires highly specialized knowledge in different fields such as computer programming, science and engineering. Subject to the fiscal year 2016 Cap, USCIS would start accepting H-1B petitions from April 1 2015.

For the year 2016, the parliament has levied cap on the above visas, restricting its number to 65000. The petitions filed by the first 20000 H-1B applicants having US master’s degree or higher degrees are reported to be exempt from the 65000 cap.

During this particular year, the initial 5 business working days, the USCIS is believed to receive more petitions than the H-1Bcap. The agency is also required to check petitions received as well as notify the general public when the above restricted cap has been met. The agency usually opts for lottery system for selecting the specified number of received petitions on random basis to meet required cap. If USCIS tends to receive excess petitions during the first five business days then it generally tends to reject both unselected petitions which usually is subject to cap and petitions which are received after cap has stated to be closed. Even during last April, USCIS has opted for lottery system for the FY2015 Program.

There is reminder for H-1B petitioners, if their training or temporary employment is held at varied locations, the state where petitioner‘s organization or company office is located will help in determining the Service Center as to where the individual should send their Form I-129 package.