In less than three months, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year 2015 (beginning October 1, 2014. As in past years, the annual quota of 65,000 likely will be reached in the first week that new petitions are accepted, and a lottery will be used to select petitions. To maximize your chance of securing H-1B status for an employee, you should begin the process now so that we can plan to have your petition received and receipted by USCIS on April 1 (and certainly within the limited receipt period to be announced by USCIS).
What we need from you:
Inform us. Our employer clients need to inform us that you have an employee or employees for whom you want to secure first-time H-B status.
Provide documents. We will provide you with a list of documents we need from you, the employer, and a list of documents and a questionnaire for the employee. Before an H-1B petition can be filed with USCIS, a Labor Condition Application (LCA) must be filed with and certified by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). DOL normally takes approximately 5-7 business days to certify an LCA; therefore, the minimum lead-time to prepare and file an H-1B petition is about 2 weeks.
Schedule a consultation today. If necessary, schedule a consultation with one of our lawyers if you need to assess the feasibility of H-1B. Does it serve your best interests? Does it serve your employee’s interest? IS H-1b at this time the best strategy? Will the employee be out of status? Can the employee keep working for you during the processing period and the wait period until October 1? What if your petition is not selected for an H-1b? These are the matters we can and should discuss with you in a consultation.
Don’t delay. We predict there will be a shortage of numbers this year, similar to last year. Please initiate the process with us as soon as possible. We stand ready to assist you.