In yet another attempt to restrict the H-1B visa program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it plans to change the process by which the annual H-1B lottery is conducted so that priority is given to registrations with the highest wage levels.
Read MoreUSCIS’s first ever electronic H-1B visa lottery process successfully took place this year despite significant concerns about the agency’s ability to implement and execute such an online tool. USCIS received nearly 275,000 registrations between March 1 and March 20, 2020. The number of registrations increased by nearly 30% this year (USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions in last year’s lottery), which is not surprising given the relative ease of the online registration process compared to the practice in previous years of filing complete H-1B petitions the first week of April.
Read MoreUSCIS announced last night that premium processing will not be available for most H-1B petitions selected in this year’s lottery until June 29, 2020 (at the earliest). However, H-1B petitions filed on behalf of international students (F-1) seeking a change of status to H-1B may request premium processing by May 27, 2020.
Read MoreUSCIS has announced that it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, for all H-1B petitions (transfers, extensions, amendments, etc.) filed on or before December 21, 2018.
Read MoreU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has just proposed two major changes to the H-1B visa lottery process, which takes place each year during the first week of April.
Read MoreUSCIS announced today that it will temporarily suspend premium processing for most H-1B petitions filed at the Vermont and California Service Centers beginning September 11, 2018. USCIS expects that the suspension will last until February 19, 2019.
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