Having announced that the H-1B cap was reached May 26, the USCIS Vermont Service Center (VSC) has been wading through a backlog of H-1B cases received that day, with plans to receipt them all and cash the filing fee checks. But don't be overly thrilled if you receive a receipt notice, as the VSC will only process and approve those May 26 cases chosen randomly in a computerized lottery.

At a meeting last night of the New York Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the VSC Adjudications Manager, Keith Canney, briefly addressed the H-1B lottery procedure for those FY07 petitions received May 26.

He said that after all of the May 26 H-1B cases are input - including those filed regularly and under expedited premium processing - the VSC will then run the computerized random generator process to figure out the winners. After that, the VSC will begin processing refunds for all of the losers and will adjudicate the cases of the winners.

He stressed that if a petitioner receives a receipt for a case filed May 26, it does not necessarily mean the case beat the cap - unless it is ultimately chosen by the random selection process.

Asked how long the filing fee refunds would take, Mr. Canney said it is hard to tell right now since it is unclear how long it will take to input all of the cases and pick the winners. He said that it normally takes 6-8 weeks to process refund checks, but in this backlogged circumstance, he didn't know if that process would be slower than usual, given the volume of refunds anticipated.

Petitioners were able to begin filing for fiscal 2007 H-1B visas on April 1 - actually April 2, since April 1 fell on a Sunday. By June 1, the USCIS announced it had about 10,000 H-1B visas left under the cap of 58,200. Then, suddenly, the next day, having counted cases filed through May 26, USCIS announced the cap had been reached May 26. In a later explanation of this somewhat unnerving discrepancy, the USCIS said the backlog of filed H-1B petitions at the VSC was so immense that within the 24-hour period, a count of the filed H-1B cases revealed the cap had hit.

Update on H-1B Cap for U.S Advanced degrees

The USCIS anounced today that as of June 2, a total of 6,599 advanced degree H-1B petitions were either pending or approved against a cap of 20,000. At the last count on May 31, 6,280 were pending or approved.

The standard H-1B visa cap was reached in record time, with H-1B visas unavailable as of May 26, 2006. Meanwhile, USCIS today released its latest figures for the separate H-1B cap reserved for holders of U.S. Master's degrees or more advanced U.S. degrees. As of May 31, 2006, 6,280 of these visas were either approved or pending. The U.S. advanced degree cap has 20,000 visa numbers available. Specifically, on May 31, 1,812 of these visas were approved and 4,468 were pending.

The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, which took effect May 2, 2005, made available the 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with Master's or higher level degrees from a U.S. academic institution.

It is important to note that to petition for an H-1B under the advanced degree cap, the H-1B position need not require a Master's degree or more advanced degree. Further, the Beneficiary's Master's degree does not have to relate to the position's academic requirements. Only the holder's Bachelor's degree need meet that requirement. For example, a holder may have two degrees - an Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from a U.S. institution and also the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from a foreign university. If the H-1B position requires an undergraduate engineering degree, this Beneficiary can apply for an H-1B visa under the advanced degree cap, because she has a U.S. MBA, even though this degree does not relate to the academic requirements of the H-1B position.  Her undergraduate engineerig degree does meet the H-1B requirement.