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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

  3. WAC1414850027 last case from WAC center all are dated April 30/29 and for different petitions.

    WAC1414850016 – Only one receipt dated April 10, that too our cap related Regular processing receipt.

    One lucky guy!!!!

    Reply

  4. Hi all,

    Finally I see that my petition is approved!!. This is my second time, was unlucky last year. My case wasn’t showing until this noon but all of a sudden status has changed to approved.

    Receipt:EAC141335XXXX

    Good luck to all those who are still waiting.

    Reply

    • Congrats! Could you please share what you did during this year to stay in US? I haven’t heard anything yet and my OPT is expiring soon…

      Reply

      • I have gone for OPT STEM extension last year as soon as I realized that my petition was not picked up in the lottery which is a 17 month extension to OPT valid until this year end for me.

        My best wishes to you, I hope you get it too.

        Reply

    • Good Luck bro so you said until afternoon your not able to see status, do you mean when you entered your receipt your not able to track your status and allof a sudden it is approved

      Reply

      • @ramk, yes when I check for status on USCIS with my receipt number, it was showing case not found until noon. Now when I checked, I see that it is in post-decision activity with approved status.

        Reply

        • Thanks bro can you tell whats your first 6 digits excluding EAC mine is EAC141325**** still not able to track if you can please let us know first 6 digits we can just guess

          Reply

    • Congrats dude, I have the same Receipt:EAC141335XXXX, but I can’t track mine, Can you track your status or your attorney gave the good news to you?

      Also, Can you please share the next 2 digits as well, mine is EAC14133507XX

      Reply

  6. Hi, Just saw the status as approved and post decision activity. Thanks to all and God bless everyone the same. AD PP VT

    Reply

  10. Hey guys,
    i was just wondering if this is really fair. Check this scenario.
    Someone who has taken HUGE loans and struggled to get into a wonderful university for an advanced degree in the US and also secured a job by DIRECTLY applying to a company opening (not going via consultancies) gets put into a lottery.
    While the others who went through these consultancies and each consultancy applies to almost 5/6 of its clients and so the above mentioned category is completely shadowed. I heard someone here on the forum get 2-3 out of their 5 applications picked in the lottery !
    It almost looks to me like, its more safer to just go via consultancies and apply as many applications as possible (which is a really sad scenario).
    Please, before you rant about 17 month OPT extension, please remember there are lots of ppl here who might not be eligible for that (eg MIS) or any other management category.
    I was lucky enough to not go through this lottery system . but a close friend of mine is questioning his very idea of putting in so much money for his masters due to this lottery system. Really sad that he is lamenting about his decision .
    Any thoughts ?

    Reply

      • Yes,
        The one BIGGEST flaw is allowing multiple applications PER individual.
        They already have a rule stating that a person on H1b cannot work for ANY OTHER company. So why would he need multiple H1b s? Shouldn’t the wrong intent be evident right there ?

        Reply

    • There’s nothing called Fair. Just live with the reality. My question is, people who have been accepted in the lottery multiple times, will the chances go to wait listed people or it’s just a waste of opportunities?

      Reply

      • Thats the problem.
        It might just end up getting wasted.
        In addition to this, i have heard, that inspite of getting an I-797 approval notice, there are a ton of rejections in the regular quota at the consulate. another waste of valuable h1bs right there.
        So all in all, its a lost cause for both the economy and the student.
        There are SO many ways to make this a win -win situation. but sadly, none implemented

        Reply

    • There are 2 sides to this story. I agree there are many consultancies as well as big Indian companies that misuse H1b’s paying sh*t salary. There are also many colleges in USA which accept students with really bad GRE scores/GPA etc. I admit one might have spent a lot of money to get into these colleges but that shouldn’t grant any privilege compared to a person applying from India who might actually be a genuine candidate. As such AD holders already have 20000 reserved for them.

      Also USCIS can easily determine who made multiple petitions to get unfair advantage, they should identify and disqualify these folks.

      Reply

      • Yes,
        There are a lot of ppl who crawl into bad universities via bad GRE scores.
        But because of this, they ARE never ever called on by a company directly for interviews. These guys AGAIN go thorough the consultancies in here in the US and the mentioned cycle repeats !.

        I was also on the hiring team, i clearly remember that we never went for colleges that were not in the top 25. No doubt.

        Reply

    • @ is it fair?
      I totally agree with you that after spending huge fee and time what am getting? And I never compete my self with consultancies because I know that they will always look after loopholes. What I will have is my education and knowledge no matter where I go.
      I am lucky because I got opportunity to go to the best grad school in the US. It doesn’t matter I get selected in the lottery or not my bright career is always going to be there with me. And proof for that is I got Canadian PR based on education and work experience.
      I am saying this to encourage those people who has higher education and dedication towards their work. You are already selected in the lottery when you got F1 Visa. I believe that once who survive on F1 visa can face any hard time in their life.
      There is always a way and wait for it!

      Reply

    • Consultancies are not big issue. All of the consultancies combined will not apply the same number of visas as each Indian MNC (CTS , TCS, etc). The problem here is that a lot of visas approved for these companies are unused. I personally have many friends from these companies who have H1B approved on paper, but the company does not send them to US and the visa is practically unused. Its not their fault as they need to be prepared of any future projects and due to other options like L1 visas are much harder now.

      Reply

      • Absolutely !
        These service based companies hog up atleast 30k applications just for the sake of it.
        This is what i heard from a friend from one of these companies.

        the attrition rate in these companies are VERY VERY high especially due to the horrible salaries (starting at 2 to 3lks per annum !!) So what they are doing now is, they are promising to send everyone onsite atleast for 6 months or a year and so applying H1 for EVERYONE possible. Even some people on “bench” (A concept i can never understand) .
        And an irony to think that an H1b for a person on “bench” is causing a person with a 4.0 GPA in Masters from Stanford to pack his bags. WOW !

        Reply

        • we all agree that the issue is due to mega desi consultancies.

          This is the modus operandi of these scam companies(Infy, tcs, wipro cts etc).

          1) Hire AVERAGE desi graduate (not the brightest).
          2) Pay them minimal wage in india and promise them to send onsite to USA UK etc
          3) Apply 10k+ H1 to all employees with a engineering degree even for graduates fresh out of college.
          4) Even after approval of H1 keep those people in india on boring support/testing projects giving them hope that one day they will be sent to USA.
          5) Send those guys to USA finally….since these guys were average to beging with, and they did not really learn anything much in offshore…these guys will be stuck with their companies even with H1 and in USA.
          6) Send them back after few years and bring new fresh graduates. Some folks stick around and play the dirty politics…get opportunity to apply for GC under EB1, rest are sent back or get stuck with company under EB3.

          Repeat this process every year!!! How the hell is this fair???!! Is there anything we could do to force USCIS to look into this??

          Reply

      • this is the actual issue! all the scam consultancies combined together won’t come close to 10k applications by Infy alone!! I have friends in Infosys with applied H1b but have not come to USA since their H1 approval in 2012! Companies just apply in anticipation of future projects…this sucks….they should just revoke visas unused by Oct 30th and add them to the pool the next year…..this will teach those Desi mega consultancies a lesson and everyone will get thru the lottery mess!

        Reply

    • cmon man, you claim to be a masters student, you must be well aware of the risk/rewards, pros n cons of everything…

      lottery system is NOT FAIR!! but there is nothing anyone can do about it….what i feel is people who are already in USA on OPT/F1/or dependent visa must be exempt from lottery system…..but that’s never going to happen….

      the biggest problem is not lallu mallu consultancies…there are may be 500 such consultancies…on an average they apply for 5-10 H1b every year.

      thats 5000, even with 1000 scam consultancies, the total H1s are only 10k…..the real problem is Desi outsourcing cheats like Infosys, TCS, CTS, Syntel Wipro etc…these companies apply 10-20k each!! even knowing the fact that only 3-6k will be selected….Infosys applies H1b for people fresh out of engineering college….

      Once they get approved, 70% of these H1bs wont even travel to USA to same client they applied for, or dont even travel in same october(may even travel after couple of years!!!)….they will use H1bs to any client on any time based on requirement….

      People who want to come to USA for masters must understand these risk/rewards before taking the leap….

      Bottom line: Lottery process is a mess, and you and me can’t do anything but whine!!

      Reply

      • Me too. Houston, AD RP, no updates….
        I saw an article this morning written by a California attorney. Almost all of their pp applicants have got their receipts by April 15th. And he also says it looks like PPs are having a higher possibility to win the lottery than RPs….
        Sigh~

        Reply

  13. One of my colleague from Infosys got the update today. Status changed to acknowledged in AIMS. Anybody else from Infosys received the updates so far? please update

    Reply

  16. Hi all,

    My petition got approved. It was in acceptance since few days and changed to post decision today. My reciept Num EAC141325**** , Recieving date – 4/10; notice date – 4/11 and approval date- 4/30. I am AD/PP/VT candidate.

    You all keep faith and wait a bit longer. I pray for the best for all.

    Thank you.

    Reply

  17. My status just change about 5min ago from Acceptance to Post decision activity.
    Petition Approved!! Thank you guys for the constant updates and support, it helped me maintain my sanity
    AD/PP
    WAC1413453009

    I hope this information helps someone out there
    Got receipt on APril 14 and since no updates on my status till 5min ago!!!

    Reply

  18. Hi Guys,

    I have a question. In USCIS website it says that my petition is approved. But then I heard that sometimes the website does not reflect the situation properly. I was wondering if there any chance of me receiving RFE though the site says approved? Please inform if anyone faced similar situation.

    Reply

      • @Arun I did my graduation here so no chance of fake docs. I asked a question. This is my first time applying for H1.
        Even for my F1 I received RFE.
        My friend got his OPT EAD dated on 1 year earlier date. So he has to waste 6 months of his OPT waiting for the rectified OPT Card.
        My wife got audit during her labor clearance. So it is postponed for god knows how many months.

        I don’t know if you received you h1b approved. If not I hope you come through. Before spreading profainity you cannot tell anything.

        Reply

        • Sorry just noticed lst couple of lines did not make any sense. I meant to say ” I don’t know if you got your h1b approved. If not I hope you come through. Before spreading profainity listen to me you cannot tell anything as long you receive the document.”

          Reply

          • If you applied genuinely – good for you, Congratulations!

            Once it moves to approved status, there won’t be RFE.

            Lucky you —

            This is my second time with the damn lottery.
            Sorry, I’m so fuc**** frustrated!!

          • @Arun..I understand dude. Last year random applications were selected and sent for RFE. Many of my friends received RFE showing ridiculous reasons. R u AD/PP/VT? If you don’t get selected keep your plan B ready. If you have come so far don’t let this stupid H1 decide your future. Try for Australia..I know some people who got tired of h1 and got settled there.

      • @Arun,

        Is this your frustration that you did not received approval?
        Be nice to someone who has one.
        Please behave your self.

        Reply

  22. Guys,
    Found out couple of hours back that my petition has been approved.
    This site really helped alot. All the best to all of you guys. Hoping you all get to hear the good news soon.

    Reply

  28. Anybody received receipts for AD/RP today or yesterday.

    This is my last chance.
    Can’t take this anymore… 🙁

    AD/RP guys – do we have any more chance at all??

    Reply

  29. Congrats! Did u file it from US or India? When was the receipt generated? Can u share the receipt number except last 3 digits?

    Reply

  31. Just got notified by USCIS my case is approved. Have been following this thread since April 1, 2014. Didn’t make the lottery last year, and this was last chance. Haven’t been home past 3 years, and now finally can go.

    Keep Calm and Keep Praying!

    Reply

  32. got my receipt number from VT two weeks back… no update on there USCIS site for status check.
    Any one got any updates recently?

    NonAD/PP

    Reply

  33. Hi all,

    I have a general question, do they generate receipt notice only after they en-cash the check, check if the proper filling fee is submitted. Also does this mean the case would be in acceptance or initial review?

    Reply

  34. Guys hold on NON AD/PP/VT money deducted today no receipt yet … keep hopes until packet is returned guys….

    God will listen and help all…….

    Reply

  38. If the status says “we received this I129 PETITION FOR A NONIMMIGRANT WORKER, and mailed you a notice…”, does that mean it’s RP instead of PP?
    I’ve seen “we received this Premium Processing…, and e-mailed you a notice…” type for PP.

    Thanks

    Reply

  40. Anybody received h1b lottery results under regular processing or when they will start announcing if our petition is not selected in the lottery. Eagerly waiting please let me know if anybody has any updates in it.

    Reply

  41. Is there any way to check your status other than getting a lottery result or receiving the returned h1-b petition material? Is there any numbers assigned to check your status before you know the lottery result?

    Reply

  43. NON AD/RP/VT, haven’t heard anything from the lawyer and employer..I’m currently doing Master’s and asked my school if there’s been any update on my SEVIS status and they said nothing. Do you guys think this means it’s done? all my other friends, even the ones with RP, got their receipts.. ugh

    Reply

  45. Friends… Finally my waiting came to end!!! petition got selected in lottery..
    EAC14142*****

    All the very best to all..

    Reply

  46. I am AD/PP/VT.. haven’t heard anything so far. My check also hasn’t been cashed yet.. I knw it means I haven’t made through lottery.. bt my packet hasn’t been returned yet.. when can I expect my packet back?? As my opt is expiring soon.. and i want to shift to plan b (to get into another school).. any body else in the same boat.. any suggestions??

    Reply

    • I am Non-AD/PP/VT, and while there is a minuscule chance for something to happen for me and other folks in this situation, it is high time to start planning for alternatives. One of the options I am thinking about is applying to jobs under a university umbrella, but my OPT won’t last long, so I will need sponsorship pretty much right away. Is anybody familiar with the cap-exempt H1B process? I understand that it is for universities/non-profits, and can be applied to year-round (which is great). Is it as simple as it sounds, or is there a caveat I am not aware of? Thank you and good luck everyone!

      Reply

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