USCIS Releases Updated FY 2009 H-1B Information

On April 9, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced receipt of approximately 163,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions, enough to meet the congressionally mandated numerical cap for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, which begins on October 1, 2008. Approximately 31,200 of the petitions received are eligible for the U.S. advanced-degree exemption.

USCIS expects to perform the computer-generated random-selection process for all cap-subject filings next week, beginning with the U.S. advanced-degree exemption petitions. Advanced-degree petitions that are not selected will be included in the regular cap-subject random selection process. USCIS will reject and return petitions and related filing fees for all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were received but not randomly selected.

How This Affects You

Due to the large number of cap-subject H-1B petitions received by USCIS, it could still be several weeks before attorneys and/or employers are notified of a case having either been selected for processing or rejected and returned. USCIS has previously said that premium processing for H-1B cap-subject petitions will be honored once the random-selection process has been completed.

Morgan Lewis will continue to monitor this process and will update you with any new information. If you have any questions about any of the issues raised in this Morgan Lewis Immigration Alert, please contact:

San Francisco
A. James Vázquez-Azpiri
415.442.1343
ajvazquez@morganlewis.com

Lance Nagel
415.442.1345
lnagel@morganlewis.com

Washington, D.C.
Eleanor Pelta
202.739.5050
epelta@morganlewis.com

Eric S. Bord
202.739.6040
ebord@morganlewis.com

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