Disclaimer: All information in this document is general information of immigration laws and procedures for educational and advertising purpose. The information does not constitute attorney legal advice. If your need attorney legal advice, you must contact our law firm directly at alicesunlaw @gmail.com or 310-481-6118 郑重声明:本电子邮件和短文完全属于提供一般知识性,教育性,和广告性信息,绝对 不构成律师给您的法律建议和指导。如果您需要我们的专业律师服务,律师建议和指导 ,请务必直接联系我们:[email protected] or 310-481-6118
U.S. CIS Final Rule for FY 2020 H-1B Program and Important Issues
On January 30, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced a final rule to be effective on April 1, 2019 for FY 2020 H1B visa program. There are some important changes and issues in the upcoming H1-B application season.
1. Final Rule for FY 2020 H-1B Visa Program
There are two important amendments of the regulations governing H-1B cap- subject petitions.
(1) Online pre-registration will not be running in April 2019 but will be applied to petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions in the future
The online pre-registration requirement is approved for application to H-1B cap-subject petitions. However, online pre-registration will not be running in April 2019 because the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S. CIS) needs to conduct further user testing of the new H1-B registration system. It means that H1-B applications to be filed in April 2019 will still follow the existing filing path. The U.S. CIS will run the lottery among all received H1B petitions in the designated period.
(2) There will be an increased chance of up to 16% for U.S. Advanced Degree holders to win the lottery because of the reversed lottery procedures.
The final rule reverses the order by which U.S. CIS selects H-1B petitions under the H-1B regular cap and the advanced degree exemption. By this change , U.S. Advanced Degree holders will have more chance to win the lottery. Specifically, the change will result in an estimated increase of up to 16% ( or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected petitions for H-1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.
Previously, U.S. CIS first ran the lottery to select petitions to meet the H1-B U.S. Advanced Degree Exemption quota, which totaled 20,000 visas per fiscal year. Then ran a lottery to select petitions to meet the H1B regular quota in the amount of 65,000 visas. Of the overall 85,000 visa cap, every year 6,800 visas are set aside for the citizens of Singapore and Chile as part of the Free Trade Agreement with them. In the last few years, only about 36% H1B petitions won the H1B visa number by the CIS lottery process. For instance, the U.S. CIS received about 190,000 H1B petitions in the first week of April 2018 and the random selection process was completed on April 11, 2018.
Effective April 1, 2019, U.S. CIS will first run the regular H-1B cap lottery to select petitions (or registrations when the online pre- registration requirement is implemented) to meet the 65,000 H1B quota from all petitions/registrations, including the ones eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will then select from the unselected master’s cap petitions to meet the U.S. advanced degree exemption 20,000 quota. The changed selection procedure will result in an estimated increase of up to 16 % (or 5,340 workers) in the number of selected petitions for H-1B beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education.
2. Important Issues regarding H1-B Petition Preparation
Because the online pre-registration will not be implemented in April 2019, an H1-B petition and its supporting documents package still need to be filed to U.S. CIS starting April 1, 2019. Last year, the U.S. CIS announced on April 6, 2018, that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 and the master’s cap of 20,000. Therefore, it is critical to start H1B application preparation process as early as possible to have a well-documented H1-B package ready for filing by the critical time point.
In addition, according to the U.S. CIS, the H1-B approval rate dropped in recent years, indicating the importance of a carefully prepared H1-B petition.
FY 2017 FY 2016 FY 2015 Receipts 404,087 399,349 368,852 Approvals 298,445 348,162 307,129 Approval Rate 73.9% 87.2% 83.3%
According to the National Foundation for American Policy, NFAP Policy Brief, July 2018, H - 1B denials and request for evidence (RFE) increased significantly under the Trump Administration. The RFE rate was approximately 69% in the 4th quarter compared to 23% in the 3rd quarter of FY 2017.
Number of RFE issued for H-1B Petitions Quarters 1, 2 and 3 of FY 2017 Combined 63,599 Quarter 4 of FY 2017 63,184
We highly recommend petitioners to work with highly experienced attorneys in order to prepare a well-documented H1-B petition in an efficient manner.
Although the CIS has not published the statistics of the rate of approval, denial, and RFE for the Federal Fiscal years of 2018 and 2019, immigration attorneys commented that the rate of RFE and denials were higher in 2019 H1B petitions filed in April 2018.
It is therefore extremely important to work on H1B application process as early as possible with the help of highly experienced attorneys in order to prepare a well-documented H1-B petitions for April 2019 filing. Disclaimer: All information in this document is general information of immigration laws and procedures for educational and advertising purpose. The information does not constitute attorney legal advice. If your need attorney legal advice, you must contact our law firm directly by email at [email protected], or by phone at 310-481-6118.
郑重声明:本电子邮件和短文完全属于提供一般知识性,教育性,和广告性信息,绝对 不构成律师给您的法律建议和指导。如果您需要我们的专业律师服务,律师建议和指导 ,请务必直接联系我们: [email protected], or 310-481-6118.
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