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MUMBAI: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the completion of the H-1B cap lottery process for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022. It has announced that it has received enough E-registrations to reach the H-1B quota of 85,000 (including for Masters’cap).
“We randomly selected from among the registrations properly submitted to reach the cap. We have notified all prospective petitioners (ie: sponsoring employers/attorneys) with selected registrations that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration,” states USCIS.
This was the second year that the E-registration process was adopted. Detailed H-1B cap applications for those selected in the lottery process now have to be filed by sponsoring employers, from April 1. This filing period will last for at least 90 days.
According to immigration attorneys, USCIS has not announced whether premium processing will be suspended for the applications that will now be filed. In past years, USCIS at short notice had suspended premium processing – which enables adjudication of the applications within 15 days and helps speed up the process for entry of key employees into the US. The earliest the new H-1B visa holders can take up their job positions in the US will be October 1, 2021.
During the last filing season, for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, USCIS had received 2.75 lakh registrations from sponsoring employers for workers they wish to depute or hire in the US. Of which nearly 67.7% or 1.86 lakh were for those from India. Typically, Indian beneficiaries’ bag 60 to 70% of the visas from the annual quota.
The travel ban for initial H-1B applications, which was in force up to March 31, is also likely to end today. Immigration attorneys are of the view that this travel ban is unlikely to be extended by the Biden administration.
“We randomly selected from among the registrations properly submitted to reach the cap. We have notified all prospective petitioners (ie: sponsoring employers/attorneys) with selected registrations that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration,” states USCIS.
This was the second year that the E-registration process was adopted. Detailed H-1B cap applications for those selected in the lottery process now have to be filed by sponsoring employers, from April 1. This filing period will last for at least 90 days.
According to immigration attorneys, USCIS has not announced whether premium processing will be suspended for the applications that will now be filed. In past years, USCIS at short notice had suspended premium processing – which enables adjudication of the applications within 15 days and helps speed up the process for entry of key employees into the US. The earliest the new H-1B visa holders can take up their job positions in the US will be October 1, 2021.
During the last filing season, for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021, USCIS had received 2.75 lakh registrations from sponsoring employers for workers they wish to depute or hire in the US. Of which nearly 67.7% or 1.86 lakh were for those from India. Typically, Indian beneficiaries’ bag 60 to 70% of the visas from the annual quota.
The travel ban for initial H-1B applications, which was in force up to March 31, is also likely to end today. Immigration attorneys are of the view that this travel ban is unlikely to be extended by the Biden administration.
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