Submission of H-1B Petitions to USCIS starting from April 1, 2015

It’s time for H-1B cap season again! USCIS will start accepting CAP H-1B petitions for the fiscal year of 2016 quota. US employers, who wish to hire foreign workers in specialty occupation, may sponsor H-1B visa by filing H-1B petition. As we know, H-1B visa category is for only specialty occupation with specialized knowledge in areas of Science, Engineering and Information Technology etc.

The H-1B petitions are filed in the first week of April as USCIS expects for H-1B Cap quota to get closed in the same week most likely. USCIS receives so many petitions within the first five business days of the month April and announce to the public once the H-1B cap is met.

The total number of cap on H-1B visa for Fiscal Year 2016 is 65,000. The H-1B cap petitions filed under Master’s degree quota of 20,000 are exempted from the 65,000 cap. IfH-1B cap is met during the first week of April, USCIS will use the Lottery System to select the number of petitions (65,000+20,000) to be processed.

USCIS will begin the processing the petition with premium processing request no later than May 11, 2015 in order to give priority to Cap-Subject petitions data entry.

Important Facts to Remember

While you are ready to send your H-1B petition to USCIS, please make sure that the address of the service center is correct. The H-1B petition package should be sent to the USCIS center based on the primary location of the H-1B employer or the organization in a situation where the temporary employment is in different location.

Please enclose the current USCIS fee and make it payable to USCIS as the petition submitted with the correct fee amount are considered accepted at the time of possession by the USCIS.

Please make sure that you submit all necessary documents in support of the petitions to avoid any delay or request for evidence (RFE).