H-1B Lottery

In the CIS' interim rule, multiple related or unrelated employers can file legitimate H-1Bs for the same beneficiary.
In other words, a single beneficiary CAN file with multiple different Employers, as long as all the jobs are legitimate.

But the same employer CANNOT file more than one petition for the same employee, even if they are for different positions.

Please also note that if the 20,000 US Master's Degree quota gets filled by April 05, then CIS will have a lottery for them first. The petitions for the US Master's Degree who does not get accepted in that lottery, will then be put into the regular 65K lottery. So if there is a lottery for US master's Degree, they get their chances twice at the lottery- first the 20K one, then the 65K one.

Petitions incorrectly filed will not be counted towards the lottery.

The CIS has also said that all cases received until April 05, will go into the lottery. But from my past experience, I cannot rely on CIS . There is Nothing to keep the CIS from issuing a statement on April 02 saying that "due to the huge number of cases already filed on April 01, we will NOT be accepting further cases". So ALL my cases are reaching the CIS doorstep on April 01, 2008.

The following is a cut and paste from USCIS web site on their interim rule:

"USCIS will deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H-1B worker and will not refund the filing fees submitted with multiple or duplicative petitions.

This rule does not preclude related employers (such as a parent company and its subsidiary) from filing petitions on behalf of the same alien for different positions, based on a legitimate business need."

March Madness Revisited

Once again another year approaches when more than 150,000 applicants vie for the 65,000/- H-1B visa quotas per year. Once again, us immigration lawyers are scrambling to get petitions ready to be fedexed to the Vermont and California Service Centers on March 31, so that they reach on April 01. If they reach on March 31, the Citizenship and Immigration Service will reject them as too early, if they reach on April 02, it will be too late. The more than 150,000 that reach on Apriul 01, will be entered into a lottery system and the lucky 65,000 will get the visa.

Once again, for years now, Bill Gates urges the Congress to increase the quotas on H-1B. Yet it falls on deaf ears. The H-1B category is for "Professionals" of which US has a tremendous demand. These professionals help us stay productive and competitive in the world economy of today.

We champion free market enterprise, yet we do not allow free flow of skilled labor to meet the demands of a free market economy. We are governed by Xenophobia and hamper our economy by unreal restrictions and baseless wars.