USCIS Received an Unprecedented Number of H-1B Petitions for FY 2016

On April 13, 2015, USCIS announced that it had received 233,000 H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year 2016 – the largest ever received in advance of a fiscal year – which reached the statutory cap for both the 65,000 H-1B visa numbers in the general-cap category, and the advanced degree exemption of 20,000 H-1B visa numbers.  It received a total of 124,000 H-1B petitions in advance of FY 2015.

USCIS conducted a computer-generated random process to select the 65,000 general cap petitions and the 20,000 advanced degree exemption, and on April 13, 2015, selected all petitions for each group.  The agency will return to petitioning employers those petitions not selected.  USCIS has since announced that the it will begin premium processing the selected H-1B cases who have selected that service on April 27, 2015.  It will continue to accept and process H-1B petitions for H-1B workers who have previously been counted against the H-1B cap.

Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, PC. is an immigration law firm representing businesses and foreign nationals in employment-based visa cases. To learn more or to contact a Dallas immigration lawyer, visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.

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