H1B visa applicants for fiscal year 2009

[pritz]

Problem is due to consulting company who files H1 in bulky amount for a candidates without job which makes the situation worst.In my opinion if you're a genuine candidate and have offer from reputed companies,you should file multiple H1 because you don't want to give-up or miss a chance of serving needy people with their healthcare needs and to practice your profession merely because of lottery system that resulted due to misuse of H1 by consulting companies.With two application,atleast you will have 50% more chance of winning lottery and as per USCIS rules two different employer can file H1 for the same candidates.After all you don't want to get out-of-status,just because you're not selected in lottery.

[knok]

Pritz,

Did you have a full written document of USCIS? Someone in murthy forum has read the full document on USCIS web site that it will not increase your chance of winning twice because your name will be drawn in lotter only once, no matter how many files have been submitted. Moreover, INS will call you to ask which company you will work for. It is called, RFE.

I did not see the entire document.

Please read the links I provided in this thread carefully.

Let me cite the message I saw, posted by rajatghosh, which I think that it makes sense.

Quote:

"I am not advocating for ethics or what is right or wrong. But I was one of the applicant for last year who was not so lucky to make it. I felt very sad to know that we ourselves played a dirty game of multiple filing to defeat ourselves. Even fortunately, I had three offers in hand, last year, but I did go with the first offer. And I have found with my own scrutiny that my employer is not like the so called "Desi Consultants" and did their best to comply everything to get me Visa. This year also I am applying with the same employer , though I have two other offers in hand.

Why, I did this because it gives me a little peace of mind and my conscience says this is correct.

Now rule, enactment or interim order, whatever the term you call it, USCIS does not deter people to file multiple petition from different employer as long the companies are not associated companies.

I have gone through the entire interim rule, posted in their website. One thing, they made it categorically clear that for such cases , an RFE will be raised. Second, they will first count such applications and allot only one slot per person, before moving towards random selection. So, multiple filing does not add any benefit or leverages over single petitions. The bonus will be that USCIS will ask for RFE and seize all visa processing fees from all the companies, applied for single candidate. Now succeeding RFE is altogether a different ballgame, perhaps this time, because INS is now aware of all eventuality that they did not sense, last time.

So, to square-up, good luck to all who are filing single petition and all my best wishes to all those people who are filing multiple, but be prepared for your RFE answers beforehand, in case your application is selected."

[pltmq]

Hey, folks,
Actually, am wondering if anyone knows about the roughly date I could know if I get H1 or not. Also, when could I know about the percentage to get H1 @ this year?
I really appreciate.

[farmagenius]

Hello,
I think it depends whether you are in a Premium Processing or just the normal processing.If it's filed as premium and your case got selected in the lottery, then USCIS would have to inform you in 15 business days. From now, let's say in three weeks, someone here who will be selected and is in Premium Processing would know the good news. I hope that all of us can be that lucky someone.!
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[bngs]

One of my relative who graduated from US has got into a job this year and the company has filed H1B visa application for him. His OPT is expiring on May 26 and has additional 2 month grace period. Can he work while he is in grace period? He is further interested in gaining an admission at any University in US and change to F1 status and if possible, to start the programme with CPT. Can any one provide information on the universities (with programmes in Computer science, software engg or computer engg) that allow the new student to start the programme with CPT ?

[kazaam]

Good day! I am a Pharmacy Graduate and trying to pass my FPGEE here in the States. My wife already passed her FPGEE and she was having an offer from one of the big pharmacy chain in this country. It was a very good offer. We are on F1 and F2 status right now. My wife is the one who is currently in school. It was frustrating and deppressing on our part because everything was fine from the very start of my wife's application for the company. The offertory letter was fantastic and in the end, just last Monday, the 31st of March, the emailed my wife, telling her that they cannot continue the H1B sponsorhip because their company's legal counsel was hesitant to submit the papers for H1B because my wife didn't enroll last semester for a full load. That thing was approved by the school and by the USCIS that she will have an underload for some credits because she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. OMG! Now, we have to wait for another year to apply for the next H1B filing. It is very frustrating. we contacted 4 immigration lawyers for this and they told us that there should not be a problem for this because It was approved by the school and the USCIS that my wife will not have a full credit enrollment. Thank you!

[pltmq]

GOOD NEWS! I just found it on a website! Here we go!

And the address is: http://www.infinitilaw.com/h1bnews.html

H1B QUOTA UPDATE 4-4-08

No update on the number of H1b cases received by the CIS yet. In a memo on another topic this morning, the CIS stated that they will announce a final receipt date once they have recevied enough H1b cases to meet the H1b quota. The statement as worded gave the impression that they have not received enough applications yet; however, most likely it just means that they are significantly behind in counting the number of cases received since they have not provided any type of count to date.

The USCIS also announced today the release of the interim final rule regarding extension of OPT from 12 to 29 months for 'qualified F-1 non-immigrant students.' The breadth of this extension, unfortunately, is more limited than what the title implied. The extension will be available to F1 students with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics who are employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verify program. To be eligible for an OPT extension, an F-1 student must:

1) Currently be participating in a 12-month period of approved post-completion OPT;
2) Have successfully completed a degree in science, engineering, technology, or mathematics (STEM) included in the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List from a college or university certified by teh US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Student and Exchange Visitor Program;
3) Be working for a U.S. employer in a job directly related to the student's major area of study;
4) Be working for, or accepted employment with, an employer enrolled in US Citizenship adn Immigration Services' E-Verify program. E-Verify is a free internet-based system operated in partnership with the Social Security Administration that helps employers to determine the employment eligibility of newly-hired employees; and
5) Properly maintain F-1 status.

A section of the memo also reads, 'Another aspect of the rule responds to the situation in which an F-1 student's status and work authorization expires before he or she can begin employment under the H-1B visa program. The interim final rule addresses this problem by automatically extending the period of stay and work authorization for all F-1 students with pending H-1B petitions. The rule will also implement certain programmatic changes, including allowing students to apply for OPT within 60 days of graduation.'

A COPY OF THE RULE TEXT HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED. IT WILL BE POSTED TO OUR WEBSITE AS SOON AS IT IS AVAILABLE.
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[farmagenius]

Hello everybody,
So, USCIS announced today that the cap has been reached for the fiscal year 2009. They still don't have the precise number.
Let's us just hope that we can be selected in the lottery.

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[madaboutfpgee]

Last year the random selection process, also called the lottery, was performed on April 12th. We have done our best guys and come so far!! Let's hope we all make it through the lottery. Does anyone know if USCIS sorts the petitions according to profession? Or if there is any sort of preference for pharmacists? Also anyone here in the group filed for last year but didn't maket it? If there is someone (e.g., Knok), I fervently hope that they get through atleast this year! All the best! The countdown has begun!!

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[ramki.swan]

As far as I know USCIS does not sort petitions based on the professions of the candidates. A petition filed by a pharmacist is treated in exactly the same manner as the petition filed by an IT guy.