The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced yesterday that it has completed its data entry of cap-subject H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2017. This means that many lucky applicants have received or will receive their H-1B receipt notice soon. We anticipate that all H-1B receipts will be sent out by May 12, although, in 2015, receipts trickled in as late as June. For those lucky F-1/OPT applicants who were eligible for cap-gap extension, remember to get your “cap-gap I-20” from your school.
See below for the timeline of this season’s H-1B madness.
| May 2, 2016 | USCIS announced that it has completed data entry of fiscal year 2017 H-1B cap-subject petitions.
USCIS will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected. Due to the high volume of filings, USCIS is unable to provide a definite time frame for returning these petitions. USCIS asks petitioners not to inquire about the status of submitted cap-subject petitions until they receive a receipt notice or an unselected petition is returned. USCIS will issue an announcement once all the unselected petitions have been returned. Additionally, USCIS is transferring some Form I-129 H-1B cap subject petitions from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center to balance the distribution of cap cases. If your case is transferred, you will receive notification in the mail. |
| April 9, 2016 | USCIS conducted the computer-generated random selection process (or lottery) to select H-1B petitions to meet the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000 advanced degree cap.
[USCIS] conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit. |
| April 7, 2016 | USCIS announced that it received enough H-1B petitions to meet the statutory cap of 65,000 (general cap), as well as the master’s cap of 20,000, for fiscal year (FY) 2017
USCIS received over 236,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 1, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. |
Applicants who are not selected in the H-1B lottery will receive their entire H-1B petition, together with the government filing fees, back from USCIS. Given the high volume of applications, H-1B rejections will likely only be received in June or July.
With 236,000 applications received and only 85,000 H-1B visas available, its about a 25% chance of being selected for applicants who don’t have a qualifying U.S. advanced degree. As depressing as it may be, the historical trend in the last few years shows that USCIS received H-1B applications that well exceed the number of H-1B visas within the first week of the H-1B filing period.
In the meantime, “unlucky” applicants who missed out should consider some of the alternative visa options:
- FIVE lucky countries have free-trade agreements with the United States: Candidates from Australia (E-3), Canada (TN NAFTA), Mexico (TN NAFTA), Chile (H-1B1) and Singapore (H-1B1) may have alternative visa options based on these free trade agreements.
- Professionals working in the arts, motion pictures and television and entertainment industries may qualify for an O or P visa (e.g. VFX artists, graphic designers, architects, animators, technical directors, fashion designers, art directors, creative directors, curators, chefs, industrial designers, journalists, writers, producers, etc.).
- Scientists and researchers may qualify for J or O visas.
- Athletes may qualify for an O or P visa.
- Entrepreneurs and investors may qualify for an E-1 or E-2 visa.
- Interns and trainees may qualify for J-1s or H-3 visas.
- Interns and entry-level professionals in the arts and entertainment industry may qualify as “essential support personnel” (O-2 or P-1S) to an O-1 principal.
- Multinational executives, managers and specialized knowledge professionals working for global companies may qualify for L-1 visas.
- Cap-exempt institutions, such as universities, nonprofits affiliated with universities, and nonprofit research organizations are not subject to the H-1B cap and can files as many H-1B applications as they like at any time.
- Consider going back to school for an advanced degree or specialized certificate program.
- Work remotely from a different country and apply for an H-1B in the following year.
