LOS ANGELES – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Wednesday that it has completed data entry of all fiscal year 2018 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in the computer-generated random process and those unselected will be returned.
USCIS said it will now begin returning all H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected. Due to the high volume of filings, USCIS is unable to provide a definite time frame for returning these petitions.
USCIS asks petitioners not to inquire about the status of submitted cap-subject petitions until they receive a receipt notice or an unselected petition is returned. USCIS will issue an announcement once all the unselected petitions have been returned.
Additionally, USCIS is transferring some Form I-129 H-1B cap subject petitions from the Vermont Service Center to the California Service Center to balance the distribution of cap cases. If the case is transferred, applicants will receive notification in the mail. After receiving the notification, please send all future correspondence to the center processing the petition.
As previously announced on March 3, USCIS has temporarily suspended premium processing for all H-1B petitions, including cap-subject petitions, for up to six months.
While H-1B premium processing is suspended, petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker which requests the H-1B nonimmigrant classification.
While premium processing is suspended, USCIS will reject any Form I-907 filed with an H-1B petition.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on April 7 that it had reached the congressionally mandated 65,000 visa H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018. USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.