All unselected H-1B visa petitions for FY 2019 returned: US
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) yesterday said that it has returned all the unselected H-1B visa petitions for the fiscal year 2019, beginning October 1 which were submitted to the agency in April. The Congressional-mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 in the advanced degree categories were reached within the first five days after the USCIS started accepting H-1B applications.
What is H-1B visa?
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. As an H-1B non-immigrant, the applicant may be admitted for a period of up to three years. The time period may be extended, but generally cannot go beyond a total of six years. However, there are some exceptions to it.
US received 94,213 H-1B petitions in general category
On April 6, around 94,213 H-1B petitions were received in the general category and 95,885 in the advanced degree category, as a result of which the federal agency resorted to a computerized draw of lots to select the successful applicants. The H-1B application process began from April 2 as the top federal agency temporarily suspended the premium processing of all such work visas.
US received maximum H-1B petitions from Indians between 2007-17: USCIS
The suspension of premium processing of all H-1B petitions is expected to last until September 10, 2018. During this time, the USCIS said it will continue to accept premium processing requests for the H-1B petitions that are not subject to fiscal 2019 cap. Between 2007 and 2017, USCIS received the maximum number of 2.2mn H-1B petitions from high-skilled Indians, followed by China with 301,000.
