On what basis are H1 petitions approved?

[wisernow]

There are a few things I don’t seem to understand about the whole process of getting immigration on H1b visa.

I am told that the number of H1 visas that will be given is limited to a maximum of 65,000 for the coming year.

Is it true that applications, or petitions as they call it for H1, can be filed with the USCIS at any time?

When they talk about a Financial Year, what exactly does it mean? For example when they said in a press release on October 1 2004, "that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap for fiscal year 2005.’, what did it exactly mean?

What is this concept of a “fiscal year” for H1b petitions?

If the “FY” is from October to Sept, then would FY2006 be from Oct 1, 2005 to Sep 30, 2006?

If a petition is filed in say, April 2005, when is the earliest it can get approved? If the answer is “not before 1st October”, why not? Does it mean that all petitions are allowed to accumulate and opened for consideration only in October? If the process for approval starts only 1st October, wouldn’t it take an awful long time to approve 65,000 petitions? Are there any specific reasons that they wait till the start of a FY to begin the process of approval?

Since there is a cap on the number of petitions that can be approved in any FY, what criteria is used to select or reject a petition? If there are two petitions equal in every way except that they are from different employers, and approving both would exceed the cap, what criteria would be used to select one and reject the other? Is it on a first come first served basis? If petition ‘A’ is filed in the month of May 2005, and ‘B’ in June 2005, and both are equal in all respects except the employer being different, does ‘A’ have a better chance of approval then ‘B’?

Thanks.

[wisernow]

Sorry I am just trying to bump this up. It sank too soon without a single response.

I hope it will not attract a mods ire. In case it does, please feel free to pull off the post.

[MannyL]

I think Eve Luna may have some insight

[wisernow]

Thanks.

But how do I get **Eve Luna **'s attention?

[Eva_Luna]

@wisernow

Thanks.

But how do I get **Eve Luna **'s attention?

You wait until I’m not at work and/or have insomnia.

[Eva_Luna]

@wisernow

I am told that the number of H1 visas that will be given is limited to a maximum of 65,000 for the coming year.

True, minus some carve-outs of about 7,000 for the Chile and Singapore free trade agreements, so unless you’re Chilean or Singaporean, the quota is really more like 58,000 (and there are only a couple hundred Chileans and Singaporeans likely to apply in any given year at most - I have no idea why the carve-outs are so big). Any excess are added back to the quota, but not until the end of the fiscal year.

Is it true that applications, or petitions as they call it for H1, can be filed with the USCIS at any time?

Provided there are available H-1Bs, an H-1B petition can be filed at any time within the six months immediately before the initial validity date requested on the petition.

If the “FY” is from October to Sept, then would FY2006 be from Oct 1, 2005 to Sep 30, 2006?

Yes.

If a petition is filed in say, April 2005, when is the earliest it can get approved? If the answer is “not before 1st October”, why not? Does it mean that all petitions are allowed to accumulate and opened for consideration only in October? If the process for approval starts only 1st October, wouldn’t it take an awful long time to approve 65,000 petitions? Are there any specific reasons that they wait till the start of a FY to begin the process of approval?

See above - a petition can be filed as early as 6 months before its initial validity date. Part of the reason last year’s cap was exhausted on Oct. 1st was that people had been filing petitions since April 1st that were valid beginning Oct. 1st.

Since there is a cap on the number of petitions that can be approved in any FY, what criteria is used to select or reject a petition? If there are two petitions equal in every way except that they are from different employers, and approving both would exceed the cap, what criteria would be used to select one and reject the other? Is it on a first come first served basis? If petition ‘A’ is filed in the month of May 2005, and ‘B’ in June 2005, and both are equal in all respects except the employer being different, does ‘A’ have a better chance of approval then ‘B’?

It’s supposed to be strictly first-come, first-served, though if it came down to two petitions that were received on the same day, let’s just say I don’t have huge amounts of confidence in US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ to count, given that in past years they have acknowledged both over- and under-counting. This assumes, of course, that both petitions meet all the legal criteria for approvability, but no, USCIS doesn’t pick and choose which employer they feel “deserves” the H-1B more.