Premium processing of visas to begin by May 11.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) has announced that it completed a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general category cap for H-1B visas and 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption.
During the filing period, which began April 1 and ended April 7, UCIS received nearly 233,000 H-1B petitions. USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases no later than May 11, 2015.
The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first, and all unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.
According to its website, UCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States; change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
While the rapidly filled visa caps may be indicative of a bouncing American economy, some domestic entities are calling for an overhaul of the H1-B system in order to better accommodate the brightest talent from around the world.
“Congress cannot claim it’s too hard to allow top world talent to contribute to America when other countries have figured out how to do it for their own economies,” stated Business Roundtable (BRT), an association of CEOs from leading U.S. companies that works to promote public policy and the American economy.
The latest round of H-1B applications marks the second year in a row the cap was reached within seven days; the year before that it only took five.