US to accept exempted H-1B petitions despite visa cap

Despite reaching the cap on H-1B petitions on Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it will continue to process petitions exempted from the limit.
 
USCIS will still accept petitions filed for the following reasons:
 
  • Extending the amount of time H-1B workers may stay in the US
  • Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers
  • Allow H-1B workers to change employers and work concurrently in a second H-1B position
  • Filed on behalf of current H-1B workers previously counted against the cap or retain their cap number
 
On Wednesday the USCIS said it has reached the mandated cap of 65,000 for the general category of the H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2016.

It added it has also reached the 20,000 limit for H-1B petitions under the advanced degree exemption.

Petitions are selected randomly through a computer-generated process lottery to meet the cap for general category visas and for advanced degree exemptions.
 
"USCIS will first randomly select petitions for the advanced degree exemption. All unselected advanced degree petitions will become part of the random selection process for the 65,000 general limit. The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not duplicate filings," the USCIS explained in a statement.
 
However, due to the USCIS's filing period ending on Tuesday and the high number of petitions it received, it has yet to announce the date of its random selection process.
 
Foreign workers may file for H-1B visas if they have "highly specialized knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming."
 
The USCIS eased requirements for foreign nurses and spouses of H-1B non-immigrants in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Rie Takumi/KG, GMA News

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