H1B Visa 2009 Quota Set To Increase?

Senator Barack Obama won the U.S. Presidential Election yesterday by a huge margin. Presently 65,000 H1B Visa Quota limit is set for General Category and 20,000 for Advanced Degree Holders from U.S. Universities. Read more

59,100 Regular - 19,500 Masters H1B Visa Petitions Approved - Update from USCIS

This article will be welcome relief for many H1B Visa Applicants who are still waiting to hear from USCIS about their H1B Visa application status. Many readers of this blog are status ‘Case Received and Pending’ and many have received RFE and waiting to hear the H1B visa approval results. Read more

What to Expect During H1B Visa Interview

Its time to write about H1B Visa Interview. I was planning to write about the interview process and interview questions for sometime now. But, majority of them with H1B approval for 2009 and 2009 fiscal year will appear for H1B Visa interview after mid September. I have gone through this process and what I say here is my first hand experience. But, don’t expect the interview to be the same way to everyone, it varies case by case.

My H1B Visa Interview at Chennai

I was prepared with all the documents required for H1B Visa interview and also read few forums about H1B Visa questions. But, I was sure that questions about company and projects I can be asked and it will be much different for someone who is appearing for visa interview to travel to U.S. for the first time and also who have applied through consulting companies.

I was confident, took more documents for visa interview than required. Since its always better to be prepared for the worst. My file weighed more than 3 kgs. Yes, I had so much documents with me for H1B Visa interview.

H1B Visa Interview Documents

Here some of the documents I had

• H1B Visa Approval I797
• Form I 129
• Letter from Employer ( with start date, salary, ..)
• Last 3 years W2’s and 1040’s
• Passport, DS forms
• Utility Bills for address proof
• Degree certificates and Transcripts
• Labor Condition Application (LCA)
• Many other documents

I haven’t listed all other documents I had in my file for 3 Kgs, but I had it all covered.

Reserving H1b Visa Interview Date and Time

I spent 4 months observing when dates open in VFS site. Its my observation that dates were opened 1 month in advance and every Thursday. I had all required receipt form HDFC bank to fill out the H1B Visa application, DS forms and book the date. First time when you fill the forms, it will take time. So, I booked the dates for H1 Visa interview, went to India for 4 weeks vacation and H1B Visa stamping.

Also, I did read about DS-160 form will replace DS-156, DS-157, DS-158 and other immigration applications. But, not sure when that will be done.

Coming Up

• H1B visa Interview experience
• Visa Interview questions
• How to answer the questions and what to answer (I will let you do that job)

Till then you can watch the H1B Visa Interview Mock Video and get ready for the interview.

H1B Visa Mock Interview - Video

I found this nice mock interview video for H1B Visa Interview, it will give insight on what to expect during the H-1b visa interview at U.S. Consulate. Watching the video again and again will definitely give you an edge. Make a note of all the questions asked and if you have already looked at different places looking for H1B Visa Interview questions and looking at this video will help to understand how to answer the questions

H1B Visa Mock interview will also help students preparing for F-1 student Visa interview at U.S. consulate.

H1B Visa Mock Interview

H1B Visa Fee Check Cleared; When will I get Receipt Number?

Many comments written in last 3 days and almost all the comments were about USCIS H1B Visa 2009 Receipt Number or Lottery Results. I have written about H1B Visa 2009 Lottery in-detail in many articles. I would recommend you to read all the articles in my blog about H1B Visa. It will give you clear idea about H1B Visa selection process and many other details. Most of the comments are asking for “When will I know about Receipt Number for H1B Visa“.

Couple of my friends didn’t get Receipt number, but their check for H1B Visa fees have been cleared by USCIS. So, its their assumption that they have been selected under Random Lottery process and I too agree with their assumption. But, they haven’t received USCIS H1B Visa Receipt number yet. USCIS have clearly indicated about June/2/2008 date to send all the H1B Visa 2009 receipt numbers. It’ too early to say if your H1B Visa application is selected or not.

How to check H1B Visa Status Online with EAC Receipt Number

Good to see many Happy Schools blog readers are getting to their H1B Visa through random Lottery selection. Congrats to everyone who got their H1B Visa application selected. I received few comments on how to check H1B Visa Status online with EAC Receipt Number. I had written in few previous articles about different ways to check the status online. But this one will explain in detail about different options available to check H1B Visa 2009 which was selected by H1B Visa lottery

There are 4 different ways to check H1B Visa approval status online.

1) USCIS Case Status Online

2) Processing Date Estimation

3) Murthy.com Forums

4) H1B Visa Track It

USCIS Case Status Online

This is the official way to check your H1B visa approval status. Go to USCIS Case Status Online.

You will have 2 options there.

1) Check status online by entering your EAC Number

2) Create an account and create an alert for your case. Automated system will send you email, when your case is approved.

I prefer the second option. So, you don’t need to keep checking the status everyday.

H1B Processing Time

USCIS Case status online will inform you when your H1B Visa is approved, but if you want to know how long it will take to get approval, then go to USCIS Processing time web page. To use that page, you will need to know where your H1B application is submitted. There are 4 service centers ( California, Texas, Vermont and Nebraska). Find this information from your employer.

Once you have that information about which service center to which your H1B Visa application was submitted, then find the processing time for that specific service center. In the results look for the following information

I 129 - Petition for Non-Immigrant worker - H1B Specialty Occupation - Processing Time Frame

Use the processing time frame to find out when approximately your application will be approved. If the processing time says May/15/2008, then applications submitted during May/15/2008 is being processed. H1B applications will be usually processed in the order in which it was received. They will have 2 separate queue for Premium processing and Regular Processing.

Murthy.com Forums

Above 2 ways are the official ways to find the H1B Visa approval status officially. But, you can check out the Murthy.com processing time message thread. You should get an approximate date when people who are in the same boat as you, are getting H1B Visa approved.

H1B Visa Track It

Track It is cool site to track the application status. Its more organized then Murthy.com forums to check the H1B Visa 2009 Approval status

How can I know if my H1B Visa has been selected or not?

I’m responding to one of the comment under H1B Visa 2009 Lottery Results article. Let me explain what is my understanding how USCIS handles the H1B Visa 2009 Applications.

Once USCIS receive the applications, unique bar code was attached to the application and that bar code was used for random lottery selection. If the application selected will be then checked if its submitted under regular h1b processing or h1b premium processing.

If the application was submitted under premium processing, then H1B approval receipt will be mailed to the attorney who filed your H1B Visa application. You can contact the attorney to see the results. As per the interim final rules for H1B Visa 2009, H1B Receipt will be sent only to those application selected under lottery process. If your attorney received the H1B filing Receipt, then your H1B Visa for 2009 is approved.

Online Status Check

It’s not possible to search or look up if your application is submitted, before you get Application Receipt Number.

Once you have the receipt number, you can create an alert notification from USCIS Once your H1B Visa is approved, email will be sent to you, alert notification ca be created at USCIS Case Status Online.

One of the other way is check if the check you submitted for USCIS is cleared in your bank. But you will have to ask Attorney if the check they sent is deposited by USCIS. this not the right way, but can indicate that your H1B Visa is selected in random lottery.

Did you get RFE?

I have seen most of them who are writing comments here are waiting to hear about RFE on H1B. I have also posted an article that will help you understand more about H1B RFE Processing Time and when you can expect to hear something back. Good Luck.

Is Premium Processing Necessary for H1B Visa FY 2009?

I read in one of the forums about a student who applied for H1B Visa for FY 2009 through Premium Processing. After the H1B Visa Lottery was completed, the person received, the Receipt Notice on April/24/2008 and within few hours an email update about H1B Visa approval was sent from USCIS Case Status Online

I had a chat with one of the blog reader about H1B processing time and chances of getting H1B approval if H1B Visa is filed under Premium Processing. The person was from India and An American Consulting Firm had filed for his H1B Visa. I explained to him on how H-1B Lottery works and how long it would take to know the status. He had wrong idea about H1B Visa Random selection process. Looks like the employer had filed for some 12 H1B visas and the person was thinking, H1B will be approved randomly from the pool of 12 H1B petitions filed by his employer.

So, the bottom line is, premium processing of H1B visa will not increase your chances of getting selected in Lottery, but in less time you will get to know the H1B Lottery results through premium processing.

H1B Visa 2009 - Premium Processing Results

I was talking to couple of attorneys and came to know that they started to receive H1B Visa Receipts of students selected under 20,000 Advanced Degree Quota. So, students and others H1B Visa applications files under regular processing have to wait for few more weeks. It’s my understanding that, it could be 2-4 more weeks to know if you H1B Visa application is selected under random lottery selection

If your H1B Visa is wait-listed category, then it might take little longer to receive the H1B Visa Receipt Notice. Till then you can you H1B Visa Processing Time Tracker to know about approval timings.

Other useful topics

• 9 Salary Negotiation Mistakes to Avoid
• 28- Questions about writing your First Resume
• Top Mistakes in Resume to Avoid
• Effective Job Search Guide using LinkedIn.com

Some H-1B petitions are “wait-listed”

H1B Visa 2009 Lottery is complete and USCIS will send receipt notice to H1B Petition that are approved. I have written about USCIS to approve more than 85,000 H1B Visas
and here’s the official reason behind why more number of visas were approved. But additional H1B Visa petitions approved are “wait-listed”.

USCIS has “wait-listed” some H-1B petitions, meaning they may possibly replace petitions chosen to receive an FY-2009 cap number, but that subsequently are denied, withdrawn, or otherwise found ineligible. USCIS will retain these petitions until a decision is made whether they will replace a previously selected petition. USCIS will send a letter to the wait list petitioners to inform them of their status.

USCIS expects that for each of these wait-listed petitions, it will either issue a receipt notice or return the petition with fees within six to eight weeks.

163,000 - H1B Visa 2009 Applications Received

USCIS RELEASES PRELIMINARY NUMBER OF FY 2009 H-1B CAP FILINGS

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a preliminary number of nearly 163,000 H-1B petitions received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. More than 31,200 of those petitions were for the advanced degree category.

USCIS expects next week it will conduct the computer-generated random selection process, beginning with the selection of the 20,000 petitions under the advanced degree exemption. Those petitions not selected under the advanced degree category will join the random selection process for the cap-subject 65,000 limit.

USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unlessfound to be a duplicate. USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rulepublished on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.USCIS will provide regular updates as the processing of FY 2009 H-1B cap cases continues. ( Source of the Article )

-USCIS-

Keywords: h1b applications filed 2008, h1b applications number 2009, h1b applications 2009 count, h1b application results, h1b application results, h1b cap 2009 results

USCIS to approve more than 85,000 H1B Visas for 2008-2009

USCIS stopped accepting H1B Visa Applications. April 7 2008 was the last day to submit H1B Visa Applications for the H1B Visa Quota year 2008 - 2009. After Bill Gates effort to increase H1B Visa, couple of Senators have proposed Bills that would increase H1B Visas to 130,000.

In meantime its expected that USCIS will say the total count of H1B Petitions received in next 2 days or so. USCIS had announced about 2 Phase Lottery System to approve H1B Visas. As USCIS received H1B application packets, unique bar code identifying the applications will be marked and that unique number will be used for Random Computerized Lottery Selection.

More than 85,000 H1B Approval?

Chances are that, after USCIS have selected total of 85,000 H1B Visa Applications, if they happen to find H1b Visa petitions in Consulates around the world when candidates appear for H1B Visa Interview with missing or faulty documents, as per Interim rules for H1B Visa approval, the application will be rejected. So, in order to accommodate those H1B petitions sent with missing documents or faulty documents, USCIS will approve more that 85,000 Visas. But, its not disclosed on how many additional petitions will be approved. More information can be found here.

Job Search Guide:

Following article will help you to search of job in non-traditional way, but its certainly the best way in the current job market situation. Click here to Learn how to use power of Netowrking to find the hidden job market.

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