USCIS ANNOUNCES NEW H1B REGULATION WHICH PROHIBITS DUPLICATE FILINGS & CHANGES LOTTERY SYSTEM

• The CIS will deny or revoke multiple petitions filed by an employer for the same H1b worker and will not refund the filing fees submitted with the multiple or duplicative petitions. The one exception to this is in the case of related employers (for example, parent & subsidiary) who would be allowed to file separate petitions for the same employee.
• If the CIS receives enough applications to fill the quota on any day within the first five days of the filing period, the CIS will include petitions filed in the first five business days in the lottery (previously only the applications received on the first two days were included in the lottery if the quota was reached on the first day of the filing period and only the date of receipt was subject to the lottery if the quota was reached on any day after the first day of the filing period).
• The lottery system will be changed so that the 20,000 US advanced degree cap cases (i.e. US Masters degree quota cases) are selected first. If any advanced degree cases are left after that process, they would go into the overall 65,000 general H1b quota pool.
• If an application incorrectly indicates that it is exempt for the H1b quota, the petition will be denied if no H1b visa numbers are available and the filing fees will not be returned.

The CIS Announcement, Q&A, and the full text of the interim rule are available on our H1b News page.

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