On June 1, 2006, USCIS announced that it had received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the cap for Fiscal Year 2007. USCIS announced that the "final receipt date" for H-1B petitions subject to the cap was May 26, 2006.
H-1B petitions subject to the cap received on May 26, 2006 will be subject to a random, computer-generated selection process. Those petitions that are not randomly selected will be rejected and returned along with the filing fee(s).
H-1B petitions subject to the cap received after May 26, 2006 will be rejected and returned along with the filing fee(s).
Beginning April 1, 2007, H-1B visas will become available for FY 2008 and employers may re-submit petitions at that time.
There are some employees who are exempt from the cap, including employees of institutions of higher education or related or affiliated nonprofit entities; employees of nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations; employees who have recently been counted toward the cap and are seeking to extend their stay or change employers; and physicians previously in J-1 status, who are the beneficiaries of waivers of the two-year home residence requirement to work for three years in a medically underserved area. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of employees who have earned a master's or higher degree from an American university or college are exempted from the cap; USCIS has received approximately 5,830 of such exempt petitions.
If you have any questions about this Alert or would like more information, please contact Denyse Sabagh or one of the attorneys in Duane Morris' Immigration Law Practice Group.
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