Posted by: anthony15 April 2, 2008
H1B Exhausted????
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As far as I know, they will recognze all the applicantions received till April 7th so we might not know till april 8th.

This is what i got in my email from my lawyer this morning.

Cap Selection Lottery

Under new regulations, if USCIS gets more than enough petitions to meet the
H-1B  cap  during  the first five business days of the filing season – from
today  through  Monday,  April  7  â€“  it will use a computerized lottery to
select  the cases that will be processed to completion.  Cases not selected
in the lottery will be rejected and returned along with their filing fees.

If  the advanced-degree quota is met during the first five business days of
the  filing  period,  the agency will use the lottery process to select the
20,000  winning cap-exempt advanced degree cases.  Any advanced degree case
not  selected in the exemption lottery will be put into the lottery for the
standard  H-1B  quota.   If the advanced-degree quota is not met within the
first  five  business  days  of the filing season, qualifying cases will be
awarded advanced-degree numbers until the 20,000 limit is reached.

Processing Delays Expected

USCIS  will  almost certainly receive a very large number of H-1B petitions
between now and April 7. It could take several weeks or more for the agency
to  open  up  each  filing,  conduct the selection lottery and issue filing
receipts.  It may also take several days or more for USCIS to announce that
the cap has been reached.  Employers should expect these delays, and should
also  be  prepared  for other processing problems.  Last year, for example,
USCIS  didn’t consistently issue filing receipts or cash fee checks for cap
cases,  making  it difficult to determine with certainty whether a case had
been  accepted  for processing.  The agency also delayed in announcing that
the advanced-degree quota was reached.  During the lag time, many employers
and their immigration counsel unknowingly continued to file cases that were
foreclosed by the cap.  Similar problems could occur this year.

Premium Processing Temporarily Halted During Initial Case Intake

USCIS  will  accept  requests  for  premium processing for FY 2009 H-1B cap
cases.   However,  the  15-day  premium  processing clock will be suspended
while  the  agency  finishes initial case intake and runs the cap selection
lottery.   The  agency is expected to restart the processing clock once the
lottery has been completed.

FRAGOMEN will be closely monitoring the H-1B petition intake process

Last edited: 02-Apr-08 11:14 AM
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