One week left for H-1B before the H-1B window shuts down for another year.

It is widely accepted that USCIS will announce within days of April 1, 2008 that it has received enough petitions to fill the 58,200 H-1B quota.

In this last week, USCIS is implementing some new rules.

First some good news:

• Five Business Days. We will now have five business days to file H-1B quota cases till April 7, 2008, before USCIS will carry out the random selection process (lottery). Last year, USCIS gave us two business days.
• All cases filed on April 8 or later that are subject to the H-1B cap will be returned.  Returned petitions will be accompanied by the filing fee.  
• All indications are that, for a variety of reasons, the lottery odds will be slightly better this year than last year, in which not even one out of two petitions got approved.
• We encourage you to take advantage of this and file as many petitions as you can in the next few days.

Now some other rules:

1. U.S. Master's or Higher Degree Quota:  In addition to the 58,200 H-1B quota, there is a separate quota of 20,000 for candidates with a U.S. Master’s or higher degree. Although unlikely, but if this quota reaches cap in the first five business days, any petitions that did not get selected in the first Master's lottery will be considered with other H-1B petitions filed in the regular (58,200) quota and will be subject to the second lottery.
2. Filings in both Quotas! If an employer files a H-1B in the regular and the Master’s quota, even if it is for a different job, USCIS will deny or revoke both petitions and will not refund the filing fees. The one exception would be that related employers (parent-subsidiary) could file separate petitions for the same employee, and prove business justification.
3. Incorrect Exemption: USCIS will deny petitions that incorrectly claim an exemption from any H-1B numerical limits. Those filing fees will not be returned.
4. Student College Letters. For students who have not graduated yet, USCIS will continue to accept letters from officials of schools indicating that a student has completed the requirements for a degree and is merely awaiting official conferral of the degree.

  The old rules remain:

What is not affected by Cap? Three types of H-1B petitions:

(i)                  A person who has received an H-1B within the last six years and applies for another H-1B with a different employer is not considered to be applying for new employment and is not subject to the quota, if the person has not been out of the US for more than 12 months.

(ii)                H-1B extensions filed by you for your current employees.

(iii)               Finally, petitions by institutions of higher education or nonprofit entities, or nonprofit research organizations are also quota exempt.

Santoshgiri,

Thanks for the information. We anticipate regular updates.

From your information, are the following right?

1. There is no difference in application either on first or fifth day.

2. Even if there are not enough applications (though least probable) , the petition will be closed.

Thanks

Parbatya

1. There is no difference either applying on the first or fifth day. All applications received by the cutoff date will be subjected to a standardized LOTTERY, notwithstanding the date of receipt of the petitions.
2. Yes, the window will shut down, though it is highly unlikely to NOT meet the numbers.
3. Will also keep you all posted once AILA or USCIS releases any further information down the road.