H-1B employers sometimes would ask why they are filing the H-1B under the regular cap when the beneficiary who won the H-1B loettery holds a U.S. master's degree. The simple answer: the selection notice says so. Note that during H-1B registration, the registration is simply requesting consideration for Master's Cap registration when a beneficiary holds a qualified U.S. master's degree. Whether...
Every year on July 1st, wages get updated. It may go up or down. But generally, changes are minor compared to previous years. To find the wages for the current year and previous years, employers may visit the wage library. In our experience, wages sometimes do change substantially from one year to the next. The example below shows the wage for a Financial Analyst decreasing from $56,098 in 2019...
Seasoned H-1B status holders are familiar with the regulations that allow them to extend their stay beyond the standard 6-year maximum period. We regularly see H-1B workers from India who have been in H-1B status for well over 10 years. Section 104(c) of AC21 provides that DHS "may grant" a three-year H-1B extension beyond the six-year maximum if the H-1B worker has an approved I-140 petition,...
The new Form ETA-9141, Application for Prevailing Wage Determination is set to go live on May 3, 2021. DOL held a webinar on April 27, 2021, regarding the new changes to the form. A presentation slide may be downloaded here. Any saved drafts that haven't been submitted will be deleted on May 3, 2021. Other updates include: Processing time for PERM and prevailing wage determination is not...
Great news for petitioners and beneficiaries of H-1B and other nonimmigrant work categories. USCIS just announced that it has revised its policy manual and reverted back to the previous practice of giving deference to prior determinations when adjudicating extension requests. This totally makes sense. Why challenge an extension when the underlying facts have not changed and in most cases have...
We are currently in the filing phase of this year's cap-subject H-1B season. As we send out completed forms for review and signature, we often receive questions about how the beneficiary was selected in the registration lottery. During H-1B registration, a beneficiary may qualify for the Master's cap exemption as long as they have or will have attained a US master's degree at the time of H-1B...
Update April 1, 2021 DOS has just provided an update on its website. Visa applicants who have not yet been interviewed or scheduled for an interview will have their applications prioritized and processed in accordance with existing phased resumption of visa services guidance. Visa applicants who were previously refused visas due to the restrictions of Presidential Proclamation...
Update May 4, 2021 Since January of last year, we have seen an uptick in typos and errors on official notices. We've caught errors almost every month which suggests the trend will continue. Errors include name misspellings, wrong priority date, wrong DOB, missing A#, and wrong EB category (EB1 instead of EB2). We will create a new post to track these ongoing errors. It is important to look at...
Update Post May 1, 2021 In response to the lawsuit, USCIS has agreed to accept and adjudicate H-1B cap petitions that were previously rejected last year due to having a start date that is after October 1, 2020. Original Post March 16, 2021 This is both shockingly absurd and sad. A lawsuit was filed (a copy of the complaint is attached below) recently by multiple petitioners whose H-1B petitions...
As we have previously reported, Biden has immediately taken steps after swearing in to dismantle Trump’s restrictive H-1B measures. He has already revoked/rescinded prior policy memos that have led to record number of RFEs and denials. On March 12, 2021, USCIS announced that it may reopen and/or reconsider adverse decisions on Form I-129 made based on three rescinded policy memos. They key...
