The H-1B Visa Cap Filing Period Opens March 2024
The H-1B visa, highly sought after and a valuable route for foreign nationals to ultimately pursue U.S. residence status, will become available for pre-registrations in the lottery submission process in March 2024. We await updates from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding any new method concerning the selection process and the actual dates for filing pre-registration requests. Once the 85,000 cap filings are reached, USCIS will select the lottery winners. For the past ten years, the ‘cap’ has been reached within the first five days of the selection period. With the introduction of electronic filing, U.S. petitioners are informed of initial H-1B selections in late March. For those selected in the lottery, the filing period commences on April 1 and ends on June 30 each year. USCIS is expected to issue proposed changes to the process early in the new year.
Limited Groups of H-1B Visa Applicants Permitted to Apply For Domestic Visa Renewals in New Pilot Program Starting January 29, 2024
In our previous Alert, we advised that the U.S. Department of State was expected to allow qualified applicants the ability to renew U.S. visas domestically without the need to travel abroad, wait for appointments, and reenter the U.S. after long absences abroad.
On December 20, the State Department introduced a pilot program limited to eligible foreign nationals who received an H-1B visa from a U.S. Consulate in India between February 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021, or at a U.S. Consular Post in Canada between January 1, 2020 and April 1, 2023.
The State Department has limited the number of visa applications to 20,000 in total and will release approximately 4,000 application slots weekly between January 29 and February 26, 2024.
Eligibility for the program is limited to those applicants who meet the following additional criteria:
- Not subject to a nonimmigrant visa issuance fee, commonly known as a ‘reciprocity fee’, based on their country of citizenship.
- Waiver eligibility for the in-person interview requirement.
- Prior submission of a ‘ten-print’ set of fingerprints to the State Department.
- No waiver of visa eligibility required.
- Beneficiaries of an approved and unexpired H-1B visa petition.
- Most recent admission to the U.S. was in H-1B status.
- Currently maintaining their H-1B status in the United States and possess a valid, unexpired H-1B I-94 form.
- Processing of the application will be done electronically through submission of the DS-160 nonimmigrant visa application form and a required $205 nonrefundable fee. All fees are to be paid online by debit or credit card.
Instructions on submission of the documents, including passports and required underlying support documentation, will be forwarded to the U.S. State Department. Documentation will include a passport valid for at least six (6) months beyond the visa application date and must contain a blank, unmarked page, as well as a copy of the applicant’s valid H-1B visa petition approval notice (Form I-797) and a copy of the applicant’s unexpired I-94 form.
Significantly, the program will not be open or available to the H-4 spouse and children of primary H-1B visa holders.
A denial of a visa application submitted domestically will necessitate the foreign national to travel to their U.S. Consulate and apply for their H-1B visa anew, with a new application form and filing fees.
It is expected that demand for the domestic visa renewal program will be high. Disseminating this crucial information to your employees who might qualify for this expedited visa application renewal process would be helpful for your business and employees to circumvent the need for unnecessary and costly travel abroad and time away from the U.S.
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