Many employer clients have posed to me this oft-repeated query: To insure getting H1B visa, when can a new H1B visa petition be filed? File early is my instant reply. Yes, file early the new H1B visa petition to get a slice of the H1B visa “pie.”
By April 1, 2007, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H1B visa petitions for the immigration fiscal year (FY) 2008, which starts on October 1, 2007. The USCIS allows H1B visa petitions to be filed six months in advance of the FY start date.
As in the previous years, U.S. employers sponsoring foreign nationals would again join in the mad rush of filing H1B visa petitions to get a good chunk of the much sought visas. In such event, there is likelihood that H1B visas would be exhausted within months of the April 1st filing date. Since FY 2004, the H1B visa cap has been set at 65,000. However, after deducting 6,800 visas set aside for the U.S. Chile and U.S. Singapore Trade Agreements, what is up for grabs is a net of 58,200 visas.
Because of the limited number of visas, it is highly possible that, by a certain date after April 1, 2007, many employers’ H1B visa petitions would be rejected by the USCIS. This is when the USCIS has determined that enough H1B visa petitions had been received to meet the mandated H1B cap for FY 2008. When does this happen? When the USCIS puts out the so-called Final Receipt Date: those visa petitions received by the USCIS on or before that date are in; those received after that date are out. Thus, the need to file early the H1B visa petition.
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