Changes to H-1B Cap Filings and Premium Processing

March 19, 2019: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the start of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap season, start dates for premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions, and the launch of its new H-1B data hub. It also reminded petitioners of its new H-1B cap selection process. 

H-1B FY 2020 Cap Season

USCIS will begin accepting H-1B 2020 cap petitions subject on April 1, 2019. Any cap cases filed before that date will be rejected. 

Premium Processing

Premium processing (PP) will be offered in a two-phased approach during the FY 2020 cap season. USCIS says that this will allow it to manage premium processing requests without fully suspending it as it has done in the past.

1. H-1B cap case petitioners can request Premium Processing for cases where a change of status is requested (e.g. F-1 to H-1B) starting on April 1. The PP request can be filed concurrently with the change of status. However, the processing time for PP cases will not start until May 20 (or earlier), to give USCIS time to complete the H-1B lottery.
2. Premium processing for all other H-1B cap petitions (e.g. those requesting consular notification of approval) will not start until at least June 2019. These petitioners should not file the PP request concurrently with their H-1B petition. They will be eligible to upgrade to PP by filing Form I-907 later, when PP starts.

Premium processing for H-1B petitions that are exempt from the cap, such as extension of stay requests, remains available.

New H-1B Data Hub

USCIS announced a new H-1B Employer Data Hub that will be available on April 1. The data hub is part of USCIS’ continued effort to increase the transparency of the H-1B program by allowing the public to search for H-1B petitioners by fiscal year, NAICS industry code, company name, city, state, or zip code. Memners of the public will be able to calculate approval and denial rates and to review which employers are using the H-1B program.

For any questions about H-1B cases, please contact Elaine Martin, immigration lawyer.

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