U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing today for all H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year year (FY) 2018 cap. The FY 2018 cap has been set at 65,000 visas. Premium processing has also resumed for the annual 20,000 additional petitions that are set aside to hire workers with a U.S. master’s degree or higher educational degree.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is no longer accepting petitions from U. S. employers seeking to hire temporary nonagricultural workers under the one-time increase to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 H-2B cap announced in July.
For the first time, in May, Congress delegated its authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to increase the number of temporary nonagricultural work visas available to U.S. employers through FY 2017.
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 13 (Friday, January 18, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4154-4155]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-00908]
---------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[DHS-2011-0108]
RIN 1601-ZA11
Identification of Foreign Countries Whose Nationals Are Eligible To Participate in the H-2A and H-2B Nonimmigrant Worker Programs
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DHS.
IMMIGRATION INNOVATION (I2) ACT OF 2013
ORRIN HATCH (R-UTAH), AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MINN.), MARCO RUBIO (R-FLA.), CHRIS COONS (D-DEL.)
Employment-Based Nonimmigrant H-1B Visas
1. Increase H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000
2. Establish a market-based H-1B escalator, so that the cap can adjust – up or down – to the demands of the economy (includes a 300,000 ceiling on the ability of the escalator to move)