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Release Date: March 25, 2014

Premium Processing for Cap-Subject Petitions to Begin by April 28, 2014 

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2015 cap on April 1, 2014. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition with the correct fee. USCIS will not rely on the date that the petition is postmarked.

The filing period for H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2015 numerical cap begins on April 1, 2014. USCIS will start premium processing of cap-subject H-1B petitions, including petitions seeking an exemption for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher, no later than April 28. This date is based on past levels of premium processing requests and the possibility that the cap will be met in the first five business days of the filing season. 

Deputy Secretary Burns has authorized a waiver of application (i.e., MRV) and visa issuance (i.e., reciprocity) fees for participants in the 2014 Special Olympics Summer Games Invitational taking place in Los Angeles, CA, from June 6 to 8, 2014, and the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games taking place in Los Angeles, CA, from July 25 to August 2, 2015.

USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the first half of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. March 14, 2014 is the final receipt date for new H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2014.

How We Determine the Final Receipt Date

The final receipt date is when we have received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the statutory limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the first half of FY 2014. There will not be any carry over spots from the first half to the second half of FY 2014.

USCIS has implemented a new process to receive and adjudicate applications for civil surgeon designation centrally at the National Benefits Center. This process change requires physicians seeking civil surgeon designation to file a formal application at a USCIS Lockbox. Centralizing the civil surgeon application process will:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has not identified or assessed fraud or noncompliance risks posed by schools that recommend and foreign students approved for optional practical training (OPT), in accordance with DHS risk management guidance.

USCIS SCOPS (Service Center Operations Directorate) and AILA Tleconference Agenda discussing issues on H-1B Processing and Adjudications, I-140 Adjudications based on Certified ETA-9089, I-140 Erroneously Rejected & Priority Date No Longer Current, G-28s Not Recognized and other topics. 

Please click the attachment for more details. 

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine, and particularly the Crimean Peninsula, due to the potential for instability following the departure of former President Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. Groups have staged protests, set up roadblocks, and occupied government buildings in several cities throughout Ukraine since November 2013. All U.S.

These poverty guidelines (as attached) remain in effect for use with Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, from March 1, 2014 until new guidelines go into effect in 2015. 

Please check the attachment for the guidelines.

This chart shows the average amount of time it takes to receive a decision in a particular type of case after the case file is received by the AAO. Processing times are directly related to the volume of cases received.

AAO Processing Times as of March 1, 2014