SEVP Announces the SEVP Portal
On March 23, 2018, the Student and
On March 23, 2018, the Student and
Discussion Topics, Thursday 26 April 2018:
FAQ: Must I carry my green card with me at all times? ||H-1B and green card transfer from a non-profit organization to for-profit||Filing EB-5 investor case with a promissory note secured by property in a foreign country||At what stage should I join my future green card employer?||Child turning 21, immigration consequences for pending green card cases
Other: Compelling circumstances EAD after the age of 21 ||National interest waiver, J1 visa and physicians ||Immigration consequences of amending tax returns||ACICS Accreditation restored, effect on STEM OPT extension ||Advisability of travel using AVR – automatic visa revalidation ||Transferring H-1B quota case before first October ||Naturalization for a developmentally disabled applicant ||H4 EAD ||H-1B extension with PERM || Rules for AOS EAD extension, etc
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C, immigration.com. We are discussing with some of our clients the issue of what to do now that the H-1 quota has expired. What are my options?
Well we can look at the options two ways or three ways. Actually, there are several variables.
Variable one: Can I continue to work? The answer is yes, if you have the STEM extension option. In this case, we are working towards 17 months of the STEM extension anyway.
What is the STEM extension?
Some people who are F-1 OPT can get further 17 months of OPT if they are in the discipline of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). Any one of these disciplines, if you are in STEM, you can get a further 17-month extension.
So can you continue to work? One way is STEM extension. If that is not an option, some people go back to school and they get something called CPT (Curricular Practical Training). That is an option that I don’t advise. Why? Because this option has come under the gun. USCIS has become very suspicious of it because the regulations say, if somebody wants to get a CPT by going back to school in the first semester itself, then the curricular practical training, the CPT, must be integrally related to the education. In other words, you cannot really get a good education without that CPT and because of the “misuse” or the perceived misuse that government sees, they have come down hard upon universities that have been giving CPTs too liberally. So CPT has become a suspect option, unless you are going to join a university that is well-recognized, a good university, or a good school that is fully accredited. And I actually have a video on our website, our blog, on how to see if the school is accredited. (http://www.immigration.com/media/eb2-green-card/accreditation-distance-…)
So 17-month STEM extension, CPT not recommended, but possible. You can, of course, go back to school and stay until you are ready to file for the H-1 again. If you have an option, for example, if your spouse is on H-1, you can convert to H-4, or L-2 if your spouse is on L-1. That would be another option. One option is to go back to your home country if the work can be outsourced to you. It is perfectly legal for you to work for your employer from your home country and they can pay you either as an independent contractor or on a project basis or even as an employee. You can work out the details with your CPAs, but that is certainly a possibility.
Now the last option that I see is there is a very fine distinction between what jobs are quota and what jobs are quota-exempt. The interesting thing is the way that the government looks at it is even though the employer is a quota employer, but if the job is quota-exempt, you are not subject to the quota. Let’s take an example of a quota-exempt job. If you are working for a university in a research position or any academic position, you are quota-exempt. But what if your employer places you to work in a university research facility? Because the job is quota-exempt, that H-1 will be quota-exempt, even though your employer is a quota employer. So look for a job that is quota-exempt. That’s another possibility.
Those are the options as I see them.
Question--How do they go about applying for a STEM extension?
The way it works is the company that you are working for has to agree to be e-verify compliant. That means they open an account with the government office for being an e-verify company. You sign a bunch of contracts with them and you say every person that we hire, we will run them through the e-verify program, which is basically a way of ensuring that they have proper authorization to work in the US. For larger companies, I would probably be reluctant to go e-verify, especially if you are a multi side company that has its own problems, so we need to assess that very carefully. For smaller companies and one-side companies, it’s much easier to go through e-verify. It’s not a problem. E-verify basically involves agreeing to go through verification of every employee you hire from now on. You have put them on the e-verify database.
To get the STEM extension, they don’t have to go back to school. They notify the school office, and the school issues new paperwork based on their existing paperwork. They don’t have to go back to school.
If you already have your STEM extension, after that expires, you could take classes for CPT, work from your home country, try to convert to a spousal visa, find a quota-exempt job, or wait for next year’s quota.
One more question that people have asked me. Is it okay for me to volunteer? What if I want to work, but I don’t want to get paid for it? I don’t want to lose all this experience that I have.
The answer is that that’s risky. However, the way it works is, if the person volunteers, let’s assume they’re on H-4. They work, but they neither expect to be paid nor do they have any benefits coming to them. Health insurance, for example. Then, it’s okay to volunteer.
I am planning to apply for H-1 through multiple employers. What are the precautions I need to take. I have my project end date in August, one of my employer will be representing with my current job. Will it be a problem later if the client details does not match ?
If you are a quota applicant, you can apply through as many unrelated companies as you like. Do not be a party to any misrepresentation.
Premium Processing for Cap-Subject Petitions to Begin by April 28, 2014
This checklist is optional to assist FY 2015 H-1B petioners submit an I-129 H-1B petiton.
Please click on the attachment to view the checklist.
Some folks are predicting that H-1 quota may last a lot longer than just April.
Remember also, if there is a lottery, ALL cases received by and including 5 April will be included
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
Premium Processing for Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions to Begin April 15, 2013
Released: March 15, 2013
WASHINGTON: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 cap on Monday, April 1, 2013. Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked.
Legislation to Eliminate Annual Per-Country H-1B Limits Passes One Hurdle
As of 27 April 2012 count, USCIS has received 29,200 regular cap H-1 B petitions and 12,300 advanced degree H-1B petitions. These numbers are considerably higher than the ones we saw at this time in the fiscal years 2011 and 2012 (we are now in FY 2013).
USCIS estimates that as as of 9 April 2012, approximately 25,600 H-B cases had been receipted. Out of these petitions, 17,400 are for bachelor's degree and 8,200 for for people with advanced degrees. These numbers are considerable hire than the last year's at this time.
USCIS has indicated that 22,323 cap-subject H-1B petitions had been received as of April 4, 2012. Approximately one quarter (1/4) of these cases are for advanced degrees. According to USCIS, the number of filings received is almost double the number of filings received by USCIS during the same time last year. It would appear that H-1B numbers are likely to get exhausted a lot earlier than last year.
As of April 15, 2011, USCIS has issued receipts on approximately 7,100 H-1B cap-subject petitions and 5,100 H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees.
As of April 7, 2011, approximately 10,400 H-1B cap-subject petitions were receipted. Out of these 4,500 H-1B petitions are for aliens with advanced degrees.
As of May 21, 2010, USCIS has received approximately 19,600 H-1B cap-subject petitions. Also, an additional 8,200 H-1B petitions for advanced degrees professionals have been received.
USCIS reports that as of April 27, 2010, approximately 16,500 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. They have received 6,900 H-1B petitions for advanced degree professionals.
As of Monday, April 5, 2010, Vermont Service Center had received a total of 9,525 quota H-1B petitions. 6,791 were bachelor's, and 2,734 were advanced degree. All cases received before April 7, 2010, will get an April 7, 2010 receipt date. Those received on April 7, 2010 or later will have the actual receipt date. For those submitted for Premium Processing, the clock will start on April 7, 2010.
Currently I'm on L-1A status and it expires in *** hence my employer is planning to file new H-1B this April not change of status. Here are my questions...<br>
1) If I get H-1B this April, is it mandatory to work on H-1B from Oct 01, 2015?<br>
2) Shall I continue with L-1A status until it expires and then can I change to H-1B?
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S.
I got my H-1B petition approved in 2008 and again got it extended in 2008 unto Jan 2011. Now, I have never used both these visa's to work in US. Though, I have traveled few times to US but on B-1 visa for meetings with customer. Today, one of my friend told me that I am eligible for cap exempt H-1B application if I get job in US. Also, what will be the processing time for this cap exempt H-1B. Can this be done in premium processing in 15 days ?
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
I'd like to thank Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, for all the assistance with my case. The whole GC process through your offices was a real pleasant experience. As I am mentioning below, it took USCIS 6 years to adjudicate this case, when it was transferred from my former company, but it was possible only because of prompt intervention from your side and finding the correct resolution for this problem. I couldn't say that it happened by itself - it was truly a collaborative effort between Mr. Khanna and all other people of Law Offices of R.S.Khanna, my current company, my former employer, and last but not least, support from my family. Unfortunately, it showed how inefficient the government could be in certain aspects, and only diligence and persistence turned this into a success.
There was a complex RFE for I-485 AOS based on employment 2 years ago, which involved a H1-b denial of extension for former employer, handling status during that period, new H1-b, and travel to home country for visa stamping.
I’d like to thank Mathew Chacko for handling my case and all aspects of it.
I'd like to mention the diligence of Bharathi for answering to my emails almost instantenousely.
I'd like to thank Mr. Iqbal for stepping in and making sure about timely communication with USCIS NSC.
I'd like to thank Leslie and Prernaji for helping with other matters.
If you need your complex case done right, don’t hesitate to contact Mr. Khanna and his wonderful team.