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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

  1. Is this statement true ?

    “USCIS does not put h1-b application in the random selection process, if it was not selected the year before.”

    Reply

  10. Does anyone know if CSC is still sending out the non-ad, pp receipts?? Are they all sending the regular processing ones already???

    Reply

    • Also wondering whether thare are more PP. Please update guys if you receive.

      Depends how many of the 85k we think are PP. If ~15k then they probably finished today. If more then they are still coming this week. I bet that some of the lawyer firms have a much better idea as they have a large pool of candidates.

      Reply

  16. Hi,

    I received my receipt number but unable to track it.message shows “case not found at this time”
    Does it mean am i selected or not”
    Do anyone face the same issue.

    Reply

  19. Receipt numbers for Vermont Service Center are not showing up on USCIS website.any specific reason for that. Anyone?

    Reply

      • Yeah..!! CA center is processing the receipt numbers every minute and VT center looks quite. Anyone able to see his/her receipt number for VT center on USCIS website?

        Reply

  22. Hi Guys ,

    I got my Receipt today . Non AD/PP/VT

    Rcpt No : EAC1413454xxx

    Thanks to this Forum. All the best Guys …………..

    Reply

  24. for those waiting and who thinks its done!! Please vote…

    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-h1b-applicants-who-were-not-selected-fy2015-lottery-temporary-work-authorization/2VyMkNyr

    Reply

  30. Based on the numbers we see so far maybe we can asusme that CA+VT issue about 5000 receipts per day? Then we are only looking at 10k-15k receipts so far.

    Reply

    • Yes, i think so too. If we assume PP is half the applications, it will take another 4-5 business days to notify all PP candidates who got it.

      Reply

      • The only problem with your thinking is that you assume the ratio of 1/2 will hold after the lottery. And I don`t think half of the people applied through PP.

        Reply

        • Yeah i saw it in a forum. Did anyone find stats from past years? I cant find either how many people applied with AD or how many with PP.

          Reply

    • ad/pp waiting,
      How did you estimate there were 5000 receipts issued today? Did you filter out non-relevant petitions. Only cap-subject H-1 petitions need to be counted from the WAC and EAC numbers.

      Reply

  32. Let me guess, according to number released today, one center release about 2000 receipts, and it is from April 10th, so it release about 20000, and it will all released by 22 days, it means we will get information by May 1st?

    Reply

    • Chris,
      See my response to your other post. You are doing the calculation wrong along with lot of folks here. Lot of receipts are for non-H-1 cap-subject cases and just because receipt number increased by 2000 it doesn’t mean all 2000 were H-1 receipts.

      Reply

  34. really? but how they know they are the lucky one?
    Are they kidding me ? Or regular mail is very fast?
    Is there any other way to know? For exmple: check?

    Reply

    • I received mine this morning Priti non AD. But I did get in contact with a personnel there who said they are still receiving receipts. So, lets keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best!

      Reply

  36. Just received news that mine got selected..it is Reg/PP/CA

    Thanks for all who updated and best of luck for candidates still waiting…

    Reply

  41. Lawyer Received physical copy today morning (snail mail)

    AD/PP/VSC

    Lawyer confirmed never receiving email for my case.

    EAC141315xxxx

    Reply

    • Do a google search of “decoding USCIS receipt number” and you will understand what all those seemingly random numbers mean 🙂

      Reply

      • I can find WAC resuts but when I try with EAC I get “not found”. Do the numbers always start at 50001 or are they sparse?

        Reply

  45. I think all the notice for PP are being sent out now – that’s the trend I seem to be noticing in all the comments that I’m reading. I think Regular Processing should be sent out soon.

    I also think that all the checks should be cashed in already mostly – it would make sense that USCIS would cash all the checks ASAP for all the selected apps only (NOT the waitlisted ones).

    What do you guys think?

    Reply

  46. It’s really frustrating now. Can’t concentrate on anything just thinking about H1. No updates as of now. Filed for AD/PP.

    Reply

      • Chris,
        That is incorrect. “5” is used for all petitions and the following 4 numbers are the sequence of petition for that day. So 51315 means it is the 1315th petition for that day. In addition, all petitions – H-1, H-4, L-1, L-2, F-1 etc go through this numerical system. So 51315 doesn’t mean that it is the 1315th H-1 petition for the day.

        No one knows exactly how many H-1 receipts have been issued until now.

        Reply

          • they are generating the numbers it just you can check entering randomly and see where it stops on the uscis site .most of the applications are dated as april 10 .so i guess they are from lottery

          • no chris those are randoms number it doesnt mean the left is 30000. if you see today i saw from 1365001 to 13651533.so only 1500 today

          • well because the number `5` never changes. So when the date changes, the numbers coming after 0 would be 001.

            so basically, they processed 1500 applications today.

  48. How long does USCIS take to encash checks from bank for all 85K applications?
    I believe that’s the way we know that we have been picked in the lottery.
    Mine is Non-AD/Regular.

    Reply

    • Hi,

      I am curious too…Do they deposit the checks as and when the receipts are sent?. I guess so.

      The following is my speculation:

      Numbers are selected via lottery —–> USCIS opens SELECTED packets —-> confirms details, signature, payment —–> Deposits Checks / Sends receipt

      They’d have to open envelopes to check a number of things, for example: if PP have paid the extra 1225$, if master’s is truly AD quota and if the petition has been signed, etc.

      I think this necessarily manual process of opening of envelopes is what gives a staggered manner to the results.

      In all cases, I’m guessing the receipt comes before the cash is debited from the account.

      Again, a reminder that this is purely my speculation and I have no material proof.

      Reply

  50. Assuming the documents are filed okay, if you get a receipt does it mean you will get H1-B?

    In other words, if you get a receipt does that mean you won in the lottery or you were just part of the lottery?

    Reply

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