Plan Your New H-1B Filings ASAP!

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H1B cap-subject case filings for fiscal year 2016 (starting October 1, 2015). H-1B filings for people not currently in H-1B status are subject to the cap; H-1B extensions are not cap-subject. Employers can file H-1B petitions six months before the requested start date, so employers can file on April 1 for an October 1 start date.

CIS regulations allow for a minimum filing period of five business days, so CIS must accept all filings received in the first five business days of April. If CIS receives enough cases to meet or exceed the cap in those five days, the cap closes and CIS conducts a lottery to determine which cases will be accepted. In the unlikely event that there are still cap numbers available after the first five days, CIS will continue to accept filings until the numbers run out. 

USCIS can approve 65,000 new "regular" H-1B applications every year, and an additional 20,000 applications from people with US advanced degrees. Employers can request That may seem like a lot, but in 2014, USCIS received 120,000 H-1B filings in the first five days of April. In 2015, it received over 170,000 filings! 

It is almost guaranteed that there will be a lottery again this year, so it is critical to get the H-1B petitions filed in the first few days of April. Since it can take a few weeks to prepare the paperwork, including getting , many employers have already started the process.  It is important to allow for enough time to gather supporting documents such as academic transcripts, and to get an approved LCA (Labor Condition Application) from the Department of Labor. The LCA alone can take 7 days, and the Labor Department is likely to get a flood of LCA applications at the last minute.

if you have any questions about the H-1B process, please contact us for a free phone evaluation.