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H1B Visa 2015 – Frequently Asked Questions – Updates

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Updated : Dec 9, 2014 (H1B 2016 FAQs )

H1B Visa 2015 season is over. Check below for H1B Visa 2016 Season.

Applying for H1B Visa 2016 ? Did you miss FY 2015 lottery ?

Check out -> H1B Visa 2016 – Start Info, Sponsos, Fees, News , FAQs 

Flash News Update  : 

  • May 5th : USCIS announced today that data entry of all FY15 H-1B cap petitions has been completed. USCIS will now begin returning all H-1B cap petitions that were not selected in the lottery. They have announced it on their twitter and facebook pages.
  • April 18th : USCIS announced that they will begin H1B FY 2015 premium processing from April 28th, 2014. Previously they announced that they will begin, ‘no later than April 28th’. They just clarified that. You can read on USCIS website  
  • April 11th : USCIS announced that it received about 172,500 petitions for the H1B Visa 2015 Quota. Read USCIS : 172,500 Received – H1B Lottery Summary 
  • April 7th :  USCIS H1B Visa 2015 Cap Reached on April 7th. 

H1B Visa 2015 – Latest News Updates , Articles 

Looking for H1B Cap Daily Updates ?  Check  H1B Visa 2015 Cap count Updates Page 

Frequently Asked Questions about H1B Visa FY 2015 

When will H1B Visa 2015 Season Begin ?

USCIS accepted H1B Visa 2015 applications from April 1st, 2014. They had the window open for 5 working days. USCIS stopped accepting H1B Petitions for FY 2015 from Monday April 7th as more applications were received than the required cap of 85,000 petitions.

What would be the Cap count for H1B Visa 2015 quota ?

No changes to the H1B Cap for FY15, the immigration reform discussions did not go through, the cap limit remained same as last year.

  • Regular H1B Quota : 65,000
  • Masters H1B Quota : 20,000
  • It is to be noted that 6,800 visas every year are set aside for Singapore and Chile Free trade agreement filings, which is called as H1B1 program.

Would there be lottery for H1B Visa 2015 ?

We had H1B visa Lottery for fiscal year 2014. USCIS received about 172,500 petitions for FY 2015 . Our predictions were right, you can read the article H1B Visa 2015 Lottery Prediction analysis 

How soon should I start planning for H1B Visa 2015 ?

[ Updated : H1B Sesaon is over for FY 15, plan for next year FY 2016 ] Well, there is nothing like too early… Getting a good H1B Sponsor can be a challenge these days. You need to find a job that fits your profile and find a sponsor that has a job for you.  Some employers want to test out the capabilities of the candidate before they plan to sponsor H1B Visa. Typically, they would like students with masters from US work for them on internship or co-op.  If they like the candidate then they will sponsor H1B visa.  If you are planning to land in US from overseas countries like India, it could be even challenging to find a good sponsor. Maybe you would need to work with global IT services companies and make your way up. It can involve lot of internal process to get the process initiated… You are never early…. Read Step by Step Plan to Apply for H1B 2015 

How do I find Sponsors for H1B visa 2015 ?

This is probably the most asked question.  It can be a challenge to find a good sponsor. We have written quite a few articles on this topic. The fundamental concept of finding a good employer does not change.  You can use our H1B Visa Sponsors Database  and search for sponsors in a city or zip code. Check out the above links under 2015 latest news and updates for the current year’s article to find sponsors. You can also, read our last year’s article :  How to find H1B Visa sponsors, avoid fraud 

What would be the H1B Filing fee for Fiscal year 2015 ? 

There has not been any changes in the filing fee for the past couple of years. It did not change for fiscal year 2014.  The  H1B Visa 2015 filing fee can range anywhere from  $1,575 to $4,325  based on the size of the company (number of employees ). Also, the attorney fee can range from $700 to $3000. If you go for premium processing again that is $1225.  You can check out the detail break up of fee at : H1B Visa Filing Fee Details – Who Pays for What ?  

H1B Visa Immigration Reform – CIR – Proposed Changes ? The comprehensive immigration reform has not passed yet.  But, lets say, if it gets passed, the below changes may happen.

  • Annual H1B Cap will be increased from 65,000 per year to 110,000. If exteme demand, it can go up to a maximum of 180,000.
  • The H1B quota for STEM degree holders from American Schools will increase from 20,000 to 25,000
  • H1B Visa fees can up to USD $10,000.
  • More stringent rules on H1B visa adjudication.
  • Mandatory LCA posting on DOL website for at least 30 days, before it is certified.

You can read Summary of CIR – Immigration reform – H1B Visa and Green Card  . We will keep you posted with updates on CIR and H1B visa changes for this year, if any. Did I miss anything ?  Do you have any other questions ?

Note :  Some of the below comments about H1B Sponsors are negative.  Please be aware that these are comments added by individuals of companies, competitors and many others that may hate such companies. We do NOT vouch for any of the comments made as they are not made by us.

Under federal law (Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act), our Blog RedBus2US.com is NOT legally liable or responsible for information posted by public, general users or third parties that contains remarks that are defamatory for a company or individual.

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Satheesh Kumar Ilu, commonly known as Kumar, is the founder of RedBus2US.com. He is an Immigration and Study Abroad expert. He holds an MS from the University of Houston–Clear Lake and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He studied, lived, and worked in the U.S. and Singapore for nearly two decades, and has traveled to over 25 countries.

   

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23,888 Comments

  2. Calling on on BAL Attorneys applicants. Let us know if you received updates on your online Status Check accounts!

    AD/PP/Vermont here. Best of luck to everyone!

    Reply

    • My employer has also filed with Jackson & Hertogs. However, I am AD/RP/VT. Let me know if they send you the receipt number.

      Reply

    • I’m assuming that it received much more applications than the California center and therefore is still sending out the AD/PP first. But that’s just a guess.

      Reply

  10. Hi all,

    Congrats to the lucky ones who have heard back. If anyone from the advanced degree quota, regular processing, in the Vermont Center has heard anything back please post here!! It’s so difficult to wait and not know what’s going to happen!

    Reply

  13. Just received my receipt number via regular mail (no email for some reason).

    Premium processing / Regular quota / California Center

    Good luck to all of you guys, I know how terrible it is to wait without knowing.

    Reply

      • Attorney and Employer received the receipt today.

        I have read on different forums that PP applicants would receive the receipt (if picked in lottery) via email but my employer received it via regular mail.

        Reply

        • Hi francois,

          is it non masters(AD) premimum processing Regular quote ?

          I heard premium process only start after 28th april.

          Reply

    • Yes I did.. My employer did apply my H1b petition through shihablawfirm.

      I got my receipt on Friday 11:54 PM. My case: PP/AD/CSC.

      Hang in there.. You should get it pretty soon.

      Good Luck..!!!

      Reply

  18. AD/PP/CA . Got receipt this morning.

    Just thought let people know, they are still sending out AD/PP receipts. Hold on.

    Reply

  20. Has anyone received the application back? I think that for regular processing applications this would be a faster way to know if we have been selected…

    Reply

      • Well, there are more probabilities of getting the application returned than being selected in the lottery, and probably the first will happen faster. Don’t you think so?

        Reply

  22. I received and acceptance confirmation from USCIS through my Attorney(4/14/2014, 13:35 pst).
    Non Advance Degree, Premium Processing and California Center.
    This website helped a lot. I appreciate all the posts. Thanks and all the best everyone.

    Reply

  23. I have 4 chances of being picked up in the lottery and still haven’t heard anything. Loosing hope now. Really scared especially for AD/PP at Vermont center.

    Reply

    • Assh**e, 4 chances! why not just apply 10 times! or 1000!
      You have just taken 3 spots away from other people. The lottery exists because you and your ilk both create and propagate the system by applying multiple times.

      Reply

      • If all 4 filings for him were by the same employer, then all 4 will be rejected or revoked even if already approved. Such multiple filings are for the sole purpose of increasing lottery winning chances and are therefore strictly prohibited.
        On the other hand, USCIS doesn’t prohibit different employers from filing H-1s for the same beneficiary. This is not totally unfair – the worker is important enough that he has multiple employers willing to pay attorney fees and H-1 filing fees (USCIS will be happy to collect 4 X PP fees, if all 4 filings were selected.)

        Reply

      • It doesn’t work like that. Either all 4 petitions will be picked up or none of the petitions will be picked up in the lottery for sure. I have never seen other scenarios in such cases. And all of these will be counted as 1 filing only. There is no documentation which states this, but this is pretty much logical seeing the past trends. Do you really think the people at USCIS are so dumb? They are smart…. and the lottery algorithm is smarter than them.

        Reply

    • Congrats for having 4 chances, I am sure that is very well reserved. However, other people only have one chance and are on top non AD, so if you are loosing hope then I don’t know what I should say.

      Reply

  24. I applied through Premium Processing non ad through Fragomen and haven’t heard back yet. Is anyone else in the same situation?

    Reply

  25. Guys, for all of you that are waiting, I went into lottery last year. I went regular, non master and I got news on April 24th. So, try to think in another thing. I know how hard it is, I was looking my mails every 2 minutes (literally). And I know people who got news during may. So be cool. No news is not bad news until late may.
    Good luck to everyone.

    Reply

    • Hi Laxmi ,

      I am waiting for result and keep posted , i am on AD/ PP and AD /RP for different employers .
      I have 4 chances for lottery to pickup and i donno stilllll.

      Reply

  31. just now got email from attorney..got receipt from AD/PP/CA. So don’t lose hope guys.. Here is my 2 cents
    After the lottery it should not matter whether you are AD or Non-AD. First uscis processes the PP petitions. My guess is atleast half of 85k will be PP. Looking at the patterns CA has been processing around 2500 petitions per day and say Vermont around 2500 (they are kind of slow)..So 5k PP petitions per day. So it will take them around 8 business days to complete processing all the PP petitions…So hang on..sabka number ayega. I guess Regular processing after all PP are processed,

    Reply

  34. Its seems like Texas public are not receiving any receipt #? Anybody from Texas and AD/PP? I am still waiting for mine and worried now. USCIS has only selected people from Vermont and California center.

    Reply

  35. why is most people from India applying for an H1B? Don’t you know that are resources highly skilled like you in other countries? Is because of the application from tons of Indian people that we see the lottery another year, that is simply don’t fair because I know resources that try to come to the US under an H1B and maybe then don’t get elected because of the lottery, it should be a max amount of applicants per country. I have nothing against Indian fellows I enjoy working with them but I think by applying so many at a time are reducing chances to get others to come to the US.

    Reply

    • Well, the fittest will survive. And remember its every man for himself. Everybody is deserving in their own eyes.

      Ever heard of making hay while the sun shines? Good luck

      Reply

    • Another thing not fair is that people with U.S. masters still need to be in the lottery. These are the people spend huge money on the tuition and 2 yrs in the U.S. , they deserve H1b.

      Reply

      • Just because you spent money/studied for two additional years doesn’t mean you are more deserving and people with bachelors degree are less deserving. All it matters is if you have got what the employer needs to hire you or not. That’s all USCIS wants. If you got better talent you get more than one sponsor. It is just like holding more than one offer when you are switching jobs. Will you call people holding two job offers unfair while there is still unemployment in the same field ? No, right. Similarly, as Saurabh said, H1B petition is for a job posting, not for a “candidate”, if an employer wants to sponsor someone for a job posting, he can do so. If another employer also wants to sponsor the same employee for the job post in their company they will also sponsor. Just because H1b has a cap, it doesn’t mean two companies/employers cannot fight to get the same resource onboard for their organization.

        But what unfortunate is that people who are scared to losing out in the lottery try to get one more job offer and try to get sponsor to be on the safer side, which is morally questionable, but it’s not unfair.

        Never say that “People who spent money are more deserving”,its the “talent” that matters.
        I know people who are worthless in India, had year backs while doing bachelors, were able to take up a dirty college in US which doesn’t need a GRE/GMAT or anything. They enjoy for a year or two in US, and get into the race of H1b. All this not because of their talent, because they had rich dad’s back home. So, never say, people who spent their money on master’s are more deserving. By saying that, it simply means that, people who were able to afford higher education are more deserving than others.

        Reply

        • @Whatsinname: you just said that ppl coming to US for education are jack asses and not deserving, well atleast it looked like it. Well getting a backlog isnt a big deal, I know most of such people having amazing people skill and they succeed in their life.

          Education aint about getting good marks in exams – Typical desi mentality Whatsinname. you aint a exception

          Also, getting a H1 from some consulting firm in India also depends on how big lip service you give to your manager, it depends on which language you talk.

          No use of getting in this discussion. I know most of the people are jealous of people coming to US for studies 😛
          There are genuine people in both scenarios and not so genuine in either.

          Reply

          • Where did you infer that I meant that people coming to US for studies are jackasses ? Did I not clearly say that “talent” is what matters ? Did I say, people with backlogs and year backs, do not possess talent ? I clearly said, “talent” is what matters, not just having a masters degree.

    • I have no problem with the number of people trying to get to the States from India. The only thing that upsets me is that many of them apply through a handful of tech consulting firms just so that they will get a better chance by increasing the number of entries in the lottery… I know it’s a hole in the system, but still that’s a sick strategy.

      Reply

    • Correct, that’s what I see, I’m not applying for an H1B but I see others and how painful it is for them expecting an answer that might be good or not good and that is because many tech companies apply many many people from India to increase their chances. I honestly see that some of them that are under the H1B are not highly skilled techs (which is one requirement for the H1B) and that impacts US native resources and also foreigns that are really highly skilled, if I say out loud it won’t prevent people from India to come to the US in a massive way but I hope they can, at least, think twice before coming to the US.

      Reply

      • Guys, I wonder if uscis takes passport number than the petition document number for lotery and if it gets through, notify all the employers attached to it.. it would be a fair game then..

        Reply

  42. What tool is this? Could you please post the link of the tool that you guys are talking about. I would really appreciate it.

    Reply

  46. To all AD/RP folks,

    Based on last year’s patterns, AD/RP folks started getting receipts a week after the lottery was conducted. So, sit tight and hopefully we will get the good news next week on wards 🙂

    Also, please take into account that it takes a while for the snail mail to reach your attorney. For instance, my petition was filed in Vermont but my attorney is based in California. As a result, it will take me 7-10 days to get the receipt if USCIS issues it. 🙁

    Reply

      • USCIS sends an email to PP petitioners and also mails a notice containing the receipt number. RP cases are not notified by emails and so, we have to wait for the snail mail.

        And so, I am pretty chilled out this week. But, once I hear about any AD/RP candidates getting receipts, my impatience meter will reach it peak 😉

        Reply

      • I am still waiting AD/PP/CA.
        Just checked with my school they said no updates in the SEVIS. They also said sometimes it updates, sometimes it takes time and sometimes a data error can happen and does not update at all until you confirm with a receipt and SEVIS updates it manually.

        Reply

        • Relax, I am waiting for my application AD/PP/CA. I asked around the lat year petitioners, Some of them got it early, some of them got it as late as april 20. And I am talking AD/PP/CA scneario

          Reply

          • AD/PP/VT. still waiting/ dont worry. i was not selected last year.
            i still remember the last year pattern. even there were some people who got receipts after may 1st for premium processing. just wait for ur turn. hope everything goes gud. never loose hope. we will get it friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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