H1B 2010 – Latest Cap Count News – Aug 7, 2009

USCIS will deny or revoke all petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker if more than one filing is discovered. If multiple petitions are discovered, whether one or more such petitions are approved, USCIS will data enter all those duplicative petitions, retain all fees, and either deny the petitions or, if a petition was approved, revoke the petition. The petitions will not be returned to the petitioner.

As of August 7, 2009, approximately 44,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

From USCIS

H1B 2010 – Cap Count Update – May 18, 2009

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced information on the number of filings for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010 program.

USCIS has received approximately 45,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. The agency continues to accept petitions subject to the general cap.

Additionally, the agency has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees;however, we continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable. Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.

Update Via AILA

How Do I know if my employer applied for H1B Visa?

42,000 H1B Visa petitions were received under General Cap and about 20,000 in Advanced degree cap. But, how do I know if my employer submitted my application? First, why do you have this question in mind? Read more

H1B 2010 Cap Count – 42,000 + 20,000

Well, yesterday USCIS announced that they received about 50% of General Quota and almost close to 20,000 H1B petitions under Advanced Degree Cap. There were some interesting discussions on H1B 2010 Cap Not Hit. USCIS through AILA reported that , today they have announced the official numbers.

• General Category : ~42,000
• Advanced Degree Cap : ~20,000

But, it  looks like they are still accepting H1b applications for both the category, since not all submitted applications will be approved.Stay tuned with HSB for more updates and do add your questions about H1B Visa Approval process, which will be answered in coming days.

USCIS Rejected 3 H1B Visa 2010 Applications on April 1, 2009?

This is interesting. H1B Visa FY2010 season started yesterday. Still USCIS  haven’t released any information on number of H1B Visa applications were filed so far for FY 2010, starting on October 1, 2009. But, there is an interesting comment posted to the article H1B 2010. Read more

H1B Visa 2010 – What is Mini Lottery?

Window to accept H1B Visa petitions for FY2010 started from yesterday. In previous article USCIS might conduct Mini lottery to select H1B Visa 2010, many were not clear on what is Mini Lottery. So, here’s my 2 cents on the topic.

Mini Lottery to Select H1B

Term Mini lottery is something I came across reading  immigration forums.

Term ‘Mini lottery’ is not officially used by USCIS. Mini lottery will be conducted by USCIS if H1B Quota is reached after April 7, 2009.

USCIS stated that if more H-1B petitions ( than available 85,000) were received within first 5 business days ( till April 7, 2009), there will be usual random lottery selection for entire 65,000 and same applies to 20,000 (Advanced Degree Cap). Until we hear from USCIS, there is no way to predict the number of applications submitted this year.

If H1B Quota Reached by April 7, 2009

• If more than 65,000 H1B Visa petitions were received till April 7, 2009 – There will be random lottery to pick entire 65,000 visas
• If more than 20,000 Advanced Degree petitions were received, then there will be lottery to select entire 20,000 petitions.

If H1B Quota not reached by April 7, 2009

For this example lets assume, that not enough H1B Visa petitions were received for FY2010 by April 7, 2009.

• USCIS will continue to receive petitions till cap is filled.

• For example, if USCIS on April 10, 2009 receives enough number of applications to reach 65,000 and 20,000 cap, then mini lottery will be held. So, lottery will be conducted on H1B petitions received just on April 10, 2009.

How Does Mini Lottery Help?

H1B Visa applications submitted before April 7, 2009 will be be considered for H1B Approval and receipt number will be issued and lottery will be held only for small number of applications received on last day when cap was met. So, far there is no updates from USCIS.

If there is any information released out to news media by USCIS, we will update it here in Happy Schools Blog. If you want to get instant updates, signup for News Letter by submitting your name and email below. You will need to verify your email address, by clicking on link in Response Required email you will receive after submitting the form below. This will make sure, you have valid email address.

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H1B 2010 – USCIS Accepting Visa Applications

H1B 2010 Updates Read more

Bill To Restrict H1B Hiring to All Companies?

After new H1B hiring restrictions was signed into law as part of Stimulus Bill,  companies receiving stimulus money have stricter rules to hire H1B workers for the next 2 years. Recently Bank of America canceled job offers to MBA Graduates requiring H1B Visa sponsorship. There is been huge debate going on about this new law. Read more