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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.

Photo of author
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

  5. Hello all,

    My petition got approved yesterday. Non AD/Reg/Vermont.
    This website has been very informative and helpful. I would like to thank all of you guys who kept us informed and our hopes alive. I would like to wish all the guys who are waiting for the result get positive news.

    Reply

  6. Hi mates,

    Is there anyone over here for whom application status changed from “Awaiting lottery results” to “Initial Review” in last one week or so? If yes, which company?
    Even one raised hand will bring solace to my soul. This endless patient wait is killing me. I still don’t know the lottery result of my application.

    Reply

    • Hello
      There are still many who has not received any lottery selection notification or return package.
      So let’s keep the hope!
      Wish you all the very best!

      Reply

  7. ON NAMO NARAYANA. THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD.

    I am silent observer of this site. I have updated in this forum, when my hubby’s petition got slected in lottery. Today his application is approved. It is moved to Post Decision Activity. The Receipt No. is in EAC14144XXXX series. I thank GOD so much. I also thank people for providing the information and updates about the H1B process.

    All the best for the people who are waiting for approval.

    Once again thank you GOD. Sri Rama Jeyam.

    Reply

  9. I would just like to add one observation. I have seen many folks here saying that they have received back their rejection package. It is NOT rejection. If you are not selected in lottery it simply means that you are NOT selected in lottery. Rejection actually means that your petition is rejected (for various reasons) post selection in lottery.

    Reply

    • Lannister u r soo intelligent. How could you able to able sort this differe. wara wah….. FKR dnt waste other time. with all this non sense info

      Reply

    • Yes, I did…They said mine is picked in lottery but have not provided the receipt number so far…whats your story??

      Reply

  11. Hi All,

    I have been a silent reader of this beautiful and informative website for past 3 months. By god’s grace, I got my notification(receipt) on May 9th and the series was EAC141445****. It was stuck in initial review since April 25th(receipt generation date). Yesterday June 25th, it got approved. 🙂

    Thanks to all for providing valuable information and best of luck to you folks.

    Regards,
    Infy Chennai

    Reply

    • Hi
      Mine is EAC14142XXXXX
      mine is still in initial review
      even im from infosys chennai

      any idea when it wil get approved

      Reply

    • Congratz Infy Chennai

      Any idea by when it would be updated in AIMS? Mine too got approved on 25th , but AIMS is not showing updated status.

      Reply

  12. I have got RFE and has been asked to submit some documents.as my surname in passport is blank i hve received template letter to submit to uscis with my name as xyz last name unknown.do i need to submit in the same name format.pls pls help

    Reply

    • Ofcourse you need to submit in the same format. What is the confusion there? If your RFE response is inline with the expectations of the adjudicating officer I do not see a reason why he would reject the petition.

      Reply

    • hey buddy, don’t worry
      if in passport, your given name is your entire name and your surname is null
      then you should have given your name as LNU,yourentire name
      don’t know why your immigration team hasn’t told you/pointed out this

      e.g. if your Surname in passport is null and given name is Sanjeev Kumar
      Then your petition/permit/visa should/would have your name as

      LNU, Sanjeev Kumar

      In your case, seems like you wrote it as Kumar, Sanjeev

      Just fill in the new form using their instructions and it would be fine

      LNU menas last name unknown.

      Reply

  17. Hello Folks,
    For people asking regarding the “Alien Registration Number Changed”
    My Case was stuck on initial review with above message and its status moved to RFE today.

    Just hope we get the query soon and its a simple one!!

    Reply

  18. No, not yet. Have you applied through H1 Base India

    Please mail me your details to vkasi1984 attherate gmail dot com

    Reply

  19. Hi Team/Friends,

    I have applied the H1B Case this year(April1st 2014) only from US but I am in India, My consultancy person is said that my

    case is not selected from lottery in the month of May 23rd 2014(after this date). So I accepted that and requested that

    rejection lottery mail or courier number which he applied my H1B Case, but he said I will provide this week end and wait

    few days and again said that “the information is retained with Lawyer”….I waited…waited… Finallay he replied me 3

    days back…as below mail.

    ———————————————–
    Hi,
    Pls. do not request any document until Nov 2014….here attorney’s charge for their services per minute and if you request

    any document,It is going to cost you 300$ and hence,If you need this courier number,we will provide but will cost you

    300$.We will provide you for free,If you wait till Nov 2014.Due to large amount of work handled by lawyers this

    year….they started charging for every minute.

    Request me this courier number,I will provide you for free during Nov 2014.

    Regards,
    XXXXXX
    —————————————–

    I am getting doubt Is my H1B case is applied or not.

    Can you please suggest me on this.

    Thanks,
    Ramu

    Reply

        • I mean no disrespect but you reap what you sow. Keep bugging your consultant and ask him to return the money that you have already paid. I am sure he would cite a variety of expenses and deduct as much money as possible to profit from your case.

          Reply

          • Thanks for update. 50% of amount has given back around 3 days back only. But he was saying “wait till Nov-2014 for response on rejection”….when I am requesting the rejection mail from USCIS – attorney or lawyer OR courier number when he applied my Case in the April-2014.

            I don’t know for telling status do I need to wait till Nov-2014.

        • Hi Ramu,I think they are playing game with you.
          Ask your money first.Usually if ur application got rejected they will take attorney fee.It may be 700-1000 dollars and should give you rest of the money.
          SO first get your money back and then ask all the other documents.ALso you can ask LCA number and document.You can ask this as it is not related to lawyer.This document will be with yor consultancy

          Reply

        • As someone suggested, please first collect your rest of the money. Most of these companies do not respond properly once they know that you are of no use to them (application rejected). Many times as your company mentioned attorney also do not respond to them for each and every query (I faced this issue myself). By any chance did you talk to attorney office or sent / receive any email from them. If yes then there should not be any issues. In any case you cannot do anything this year.

          Reply

    • What is the consultancy name? If you name it, at lease people will be aware about this company and won’t lose money like you. It will be a great help. And you have all the rights to ask for the rejection letter from USCIS. If he is not giving it, tell them you will go legally.

      Reply

    • You shouldn’t refrain from publishing the name of such fraud company. Please do this favor to others so that they will not be trapped in such scams.

      Reply

  21. Hi all,
    I am out of race, today I got my packet back from USCIS.
    Good luck to all of you guys.

    2011 L1 rejected
    2013 H1 not picked in lottery
    2013 L1 rejected
    2014 H1 not picked in lottery.

    2015 Waiting for luck to show my future.

    Sai nadh maharaj ki jai

    Reply

  25. Hi
    I have applied H1b this year on Non-AD,NON-PP.
    My application got selected in lottery and it is in ‘Initial Review Now.
    There is no change in my application status from past 2 months.
    I am planning to move it to ‘premium processing’ now.

    I have few questions regarding this.
    Could you please answer if you have any idea or already having any experience on doing this.

    1) Can I change it now to ‘Premium Processing’

    2) Will it effect in bad way like getting rfe or denied as I am changing it in the middle of processing or whether they will get any doubt regarding my application

    Kindly please share your thoughts as soon as possible so that I will go ahead

    Thanks in advance

    Sowmya

    Reply

    • hi,

      You can still wait, please do not urge for Premium processing now. There are many chances for RFE when you PP now. The case might get approved this week or surely by next month end.

      Regards,
      Applicant

      Reply

    • last year I was in the same situation and I upgraded to premium after a month or so, immediately after couple of days they issued a RFE. this is my eperience but you can descide on what you want to do.

      Reply

        • If his RFE is already cleared last year, he would not end up roaming in this forum with the name “ad/pp/vt” 🙂 Isn’t it?

          Reply

      • Hello Everyone,

        My H1B petition has received an RFE and its most likely for a client letter with a detailed job description or in regard to my Education( I am a B.Tech graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering and have around 7 years into Software Development in the IT Sector)

        I spoke with my employer and they communicated to me that the RFE could be for either of the above mentioned points. Please could any of you that received RFE and successfully got approval explain the process and the chance of approval?

        Any help would be highly appreciated!

        Reply

        • How do you even know that your RFE is for education details or a client letter? There are a variety of RFEs based on your petition. I believe you could never rightly predict the nature of the RFE until you actually read the notice. I suggest you to wait to see the exact question being asked in the RFE. However, as you already know that there is a RFE, it is better to go ahead and collect all documents once again.

          Reply

        • Hi KK,

          I have also received RFE today.. and what a coincidence my profile is exactly like urs too but with 6 years experience.. Lets hope for the best..

          Reply

        • Hi KK,

          Did u get the details for your RFE? My attorney just told me it is employer specific, waiting for further details.

          Reply

    • I would recommend against doing a PP. I know cases where when people moved their cases to PP, they were immediately slapped with a RFE. There is no point in moving to a PP as we have plenty of time for the decision and visa interview.

      Reply

  26. Hi Saurabh,

    I have question specific to H1B visa.

    My employer A applied for H1B visa in 2013 Apr , it was selected in lottery. We got RFE in Sep 2013, then my employer replied to RFE.
    Later in Dec he realized that he replied wrong details so he withdrawn application on Jan 9th 2014.

    In Feb 2014 he re-applied against the same application by giving reference to withdrawn application.
    We again got RFE in March and after RFE response application was denied(Due to some insufficient project details).

    Now he has client and contract/SOW ,and he is saying he can again apply for H1B by giving reference of withdrawn application. But this time he is asking for financial help.

    So my question here are ,
    Is it possible to apply again ,by giving reference of withdrawn application ? i mean will it still be considered in quota ? won;t there be any issue because of denied application ?

    Based on response i can think if to put that much money for H1B application.

    Thanks in advance,
    Regards,
    John

    Reply

    • After receiving a rejection notice for the petition, how can one apply by citing the old reference number? I believe this is absolutely not possible.

      Reply

  27. My status changed to RFE review since June 4th and nothing happened yet !

    WAC-AD-RP

    Is it regular ? it is exactly 3 weeks passed from submission of the RFE response. Will you please advise ?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • I am aware of 3 guys applying thru H1Base including me and noone got receipt or any information from H1Base. The only info they got is that they are selected in lottery.

      What they told you?

      Can you drop me email your details at jatinchawla1986attherategmaildotcom so that we can get in touch for future updates. Thanks !

      Reply

    • Last evening Wipro CDC … …All folks got rejection… Still Few yet to get update.(GIMS updated the following info : After this no acceptance)

      Reply

  36. Hello Everyone,

    Anyone got approvals for EAC1413852*** series ??

    Not sure in which order does the USCIS will process the applications ?/

    Thanks in advance for your inputs.

    Regards,
    Kuru

    Reply

      • Hi kanti,

        Is your wife’s visa approval from h4 to h1 ?? Even mine also same series and still under initial review . When did you get receipt notice ?

        Appreciate your reply

        Thanks,
        Megha

        Reply

        • I guess there is no particular order in which applications are processed. Her case is a L1B to H1B (Non AD/Reg Processing) . We received a note from USCIS on 06/23.

          Reply

      • Hi RK4H1,

        Would you mind sharing what is the RFE about? I got RFE on my case too and your response would help understand it more clear

        Reply

        • Hi KK,

          Its on Employee-Employer relationship itseems. My employer told me when i called them. May I know your reciept number Plz with last three digits masked..?

          Reply

          • Hi both of you, mine too was RFE and it was that one of the document was not submitted as it wasn’t ready. I’ve also asked to submit my CMM and it got approved 10 days back.

          • Hello Guest,

            What is CMM? i still am not clear o what the RFE is about on my case. i will keep posted in this forum as and when i get updates

          • Thanks for the response RK4H1. My employer has not disclosed the receipt number to me yet. but then my application was picked and updated to my employer last 28th April 2014. Has your employer responded to the RFE?

  37. Hi,

    I still have not got any reply from the company who filled my H1 this year. They said last year they got responses of some people getting selected in lottery as late as August.
    Is there still hope in waiting? anyone else in same situation

    Reply

  39. Yuhhuuuu,,, got the approval… WAC141460XXX

    Day before yesterday status was ‘Initial Review’ and Today in ‘Post Decision Activity’.

    On June XX, 2014, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129 PETITION FOR A NONIMMIGRANT WORKER. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

    Reply

  43. hi all,
    As far we know that approvals are not done in any order and we believe it to be random…but curious to know if anyone has taken a sample with all info and try to analyse…
    btw am still waiting for mine in EAC1414653xxx..

    thankyou…

    Reply

    • please note that petitions are processed by many agents so if the agent that is processing the 142 series is slower than the agent who process the 144 series then 144 series get results first. and also that depends on the case situation as well. my opinion is only based on the assumption that not only one person is processing the petition, because if its only one then we can expect that results will come in order but they wont make it before oct.

      Reply

      • however if someone is processing 144 series why do they miss in between some numbers and then proceed…so there should be some more logic to it than just series i believe…

        Reply

          • hi Raja..yes i received receipt number today at last and found that my H1 approved long time ago. Did they send you the copy of approval notice??

          • Hi All ,

            can you please share contact number with whom should I call in Splendek for my H1-B Status ?

            Thanks

          • good…congrats..then.can you share me your..receipt.number . when does it got approved? did you received approval letter also?

          • Hi..splnd ..no I didn’t received approval letter yet. I think we need to followup again on the approval letter. Did they said your approval letter received? Share me your receipt number and when does it got approved.

    • I learnt from my employer that i have not been selected in the lottery however i have not received my rejection package yet.Can anyone explain what does it mean?

      Reply

  50. Is there anybody still awaiting lottery result? I havn’t yet received any application reference number. Checked with my employer. They reliped back saying that reference number will be generated only if application is selected in lottery and status is changed to “INITIAL REVIEW”.. Is there anybody over here with similar case?

    Reply

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