H-1B Season is Here! U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a reminder today, that it will accept H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2012 cap beginning April 1, 2011. Cases will be considered accepted on the date USCIS receives a properly filed petition for which the correct fee has been submitted; not the date that the petition is postmarked. Source: USCIS, rev. Mar. 21, 2011.

USCIS Confirms Policy Change for H-1B Cap-Exempt Petitions

Immigration practitioners were recently informed of processing delays for cap-exempt H-1B cases. Officers in the Premium Processing division informed attorneys and petitioners that all H-1B cases filed by non-profits requesting an "affiliation"-based cap exemption would be held indefinitely, pending further guidance from USCIS. This was announced after USCIS released its March 16 policy revision authorizing officers to approve cap exempt cases, and reversing an AAO decision. Pederson Immigration has confirmation that as of March 25, 2011, officers at the California Service Center have been instructed to resume processing all cap-exempt cases.