On March 20, 2020, USCIS temporarily suspended premium processing service for all Form I-129 and I-140 petitions until further notice due to the pandemic. What If USCIS Already Accepted Your Request for Premium Processing? As of this writing, USCIS plans to continue...
H-1B
Premium Processing Suspension for H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions
USCIS has temporarily suspended premium processing service for FY2021 cap-subject H-1B petitions. Petitioners won’t be able to request premium processing when USCIS begins accepting cap-subject petitions on April 1. Premium processing will resume in a two-phased...
How to Improve Your Chances with the New H-1B Cap Registration Process
There’s a new H-1B cap registration process this year, and it’s starting soon. We’re staying alert to changes. And we’re sharing with you key dates, tips, insights, and tools to help improve your chances of success and make the process run as smoothly as possible. If...
FAQs about RFEs: Understanding RFEs and How to Establish an H-1B Speciality Occupation – Part 3
Part 3 of this series answers the final FAQs about RFEs, particularly as they relate to specialty occupations H-1B petitions. Read parts one and two. 5. How do we establish that the position is a specialty occupation? The petition must demonstrate to USCIS’...
FAQs about RFEs: Understanding RFEs and How to Establish an H-1B Speciality Occupation – Part 2
Part 2 of this series answers more FAQs about RFEs, particularly as they relate to specialty occupations H-1B petitions. You can read Part 1 here. 3. The initial petition was approved without an RFE or extensive documentation. Why did we receive an RFE? While...
FAQs about RFEs: Understanding RFEs and How to Establish an H-1B Speciality Occupation – Part 1
We are continuing to see an increase in adjudicatory scrutiny and requests for evidence (RFEs) for many nonimmigrant and immigrant visa petitions. USCIS data shows that during fiscal year 2019, about 60% of all completed H-1B cases received an RFE as a result of the...
H-1B Cap Selection Is Complete. Now What?
USCIS announced that the cap of 85,000 new H-1B visas for FY2020 was met. They received a total of 201,011 H-1B cap petitions. There was an 11% increase from FY2019 in H-1B advanced degree (master’s and above) petitions selected in the FY2020 lottery; about 63% of...
Changes Announced to the H-1B Cap-Subject Process Days Before Filing Began
On April 1, 2019, USCIS started taking cap-subject H-1B petitions for FY 2020. Just 20 days before that, they released a memo detailing a new filing process. It includes changes to premium processing that have never been tested or used and the announcement of a new...