June 17, 2008

USCIS Announces all FY 2009 H-1B Cap Petitions Have Been Selected

On April 8, 2008, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that it received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for the fiscal year 2009 (October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009). USCIS used random selection process for all cap subject cases and the following information is provided regarding processing cases under the FY2009 H-1B cap:

1. Receipt notices have been issued for those cases selected in the random lottery except for cases that were being reviewed as potential duplicate filings.
2. The California and Vermont Service Centers completed data entry on all selected cases on May 23, 2008, and mailing of all receipts was completed on May 24, 2008.
3. Cases that were thought to be duplicate filings are being hand reviewed to determine if they are true duplicates. USCIS has received approximately 500 petitions that are believed to be duplicates. However, some of these were submitted as "protective filings" due to courier delivery confirmation problems or where the petition was sent to an incorrect Service Center. Each will be reviewed and determined on a case-by-case basis. If the second submission was accompanied by an explanation of the reason for the second submission, there is a good chance of acceptance.

USCIS has determined that the number of petitions selected during the random selection process will be sufficient to meet the 2009 H-1B cap limit. Therefore, the use of the reserve/cushion will not be necessary this year. USCIS started to mail out rejections this week.

If your H-1B petition filing was not selected in the lottery, please consult with a GT attorney regarding possible options. As a reminder for those who were selected in the lottery and who are working pursuant to their F-1 OPT, the work authorization is automatically extended until the H-1B status takes effect in October 2008 (http://www2.gtlaw.com/practices/immigration/news/2008/04/08.htm).