On Friday, 1 April 2016, the acceptance window for new H-1B Cap visa petitions will open briefly. Act now to take advantage. Last year, over 233,000 petitions were filed for the annual quota of 85,000 new H1B visas.This year, there may be as many as 250,000 petitions filed.

Each Fiscal Year, 65,000 new H-1B visas become available for the “general cap.” An additional 20,000 new visas have been set aside in the “U.S. Master’s Cap” for those who have completed a Master’s degree or higher at a U.S. non-profit University prior to filing.This H-1B non-immigrant visa permits professional employment starting October 1st in a “specialty occupation” – a job requiring at least a 4-year US BA/BS or its equivalent.

USCIS Citizenship & Immigration Services conducts a lottery of all petitions submitted in the first 5 business days of April. 85,000 lucky visa petitions will be selected by chance, to be further considered by USCIS for eligibility and H1B visa petition approval.

E&M Mayock seeks to ensure that all of our petitions are submitted before the numbers run out. An LCA Labor Condition Application must be certified by the Department of Labor before the H-1B visa petition can be filed with USCIS. It takes at least 7 business, so that process must be initiated NOW. In order to expeditiously initiate any new H-1B visa petition matter, please email info@emvisa.com and take the following steps:

• -Provide name, email address and dependent information for any potential H-1B visa petition beneficiary.

• -Provide the initial documents to speed our evaluation: ID page of passport, resume, job description, and offered salary.

Please be advised that – EVEN IF AN H-1B APPLICATION IS COMPLETE AND TIMELY FILED – there is a significant risk that the visa petition will NOT be selected in the lottery for processing, due to the large number of filers.USCIS will announce lottery winners as soon as those names become available, usually by early May. All USCIS filing fees are returned to non-selectees.

If you have questions, please contact us at 415.765.5111 or info@emvisa.com. We look forward to working with you to achieve your U.S. visa goals.

Visit www.emvisa.com to find out more!