Second chance: US to accept fresh H1-B visa petitions from August 2

The United States will begin accepting fresh petitions
for H1-B work visas from August 2. This will work for registrations that were
accepted early this week using a random selection process to meet the H1-B cap
for the 2022 fiscal.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
received over 308,000 applications during the initial registration period for
the coveted H-1B work permit in 2022, a 12.5% increase over the current year.

The US’ immigration agency has decided to conduct a rare
second lottery to decide on applicants who could not make it in the first
random selection.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said
on Thursday that the decision was taken because the computerised draw of lots
for H-1B visas did not provide the Congressionally-mandated number of H-1B visas.

The H-1B visa is the most sought-after among Indian IT
professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies
to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require technical or
theoretical expertise.

The H-1B visa has an annual numerical limit of 65,000
visas each fiscal as mandated by Congress. The first 20,000 petitions filed on
behalf of beneficiaries with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the
cap.

US-based technology companies depend on it to hire tens of
thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The USCIS issued a statement saying: “We recently
determined that we needed to select additional registrations to reach the
Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 numerical allocations. On July 28, we selected previously
submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process.”

The petition filing period based on registrations
selected on July 28 will begin on August 2 and close on November 3. The move by
the USCIS to conduct the second lottery to provide another chance to several
applicants, including hundreds of Indian IT professionals, who could not make
it in the first random selection.

The federal agency said that only those petitioners with
selected registrations for FY 2022 are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject
petitions.

The initial filing period for those with selected
registrations for FY 2022 was from April 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021.

The migration agency said that an H-1B cap-subject
petition must be properly filed at the right service centre and within the
filing period indicated on the relevant registration selection notice.

H1-B petitions cannot be filed online. They must be done
on paper and must include a printed copy of the applicable registration
selection notice with the 2022 FY H-1B cap-subject petition.