Updated : November 25th, 2015
H1B Visa 2016 Filing Season Complete, Cap reached on April 7th, 2015.
Planning for next H1B season, Check out H1B Visa 2017 FAQs
As many of you know, H1B Visa 2015 quota was over in the first week and a whopping 172,500 H1B petitions were received in first week by USCIS. H1B Lottery / random selection was held by USCIS to select 85,000 H1B petitions to fulfil the work permit cap. Many of the unlucky ones are already wondering about next year H1B Visa quota. Also, some of you are planning for H1B visa for next year, you also would be wondering regarding the same. This article addresses many of the common questions, it will be updated constantly, whenever any changes to info. Bookmark this page ! To start with, firstly the news updates on this season, followed by many commonly asked questions.
Official & Unofficial USCIS News Updates Regarding H1B 2016 Season
- November 25th, 2015 : There is no special news as such, but we have our readers reporting that their H1Bs are still being approved that were under regular processing. So, if your status is stuck at one status, there is still some hope…
- July 14th, 2015 : USCIS released a note saying that they have returned all the petitions that were not selected in lottery for FY 2016. If you do not hear back from USCIS by July 20th, then you can contact them. Check Press note
- May 4th, 2015 : Data Entry for Selected H1B Petitions Completed
- April 14th, 2015 : Premium Processing H1B 2016 starts from April 27th
- April 13th, 2015: USCIS receives 233,000 for FY 2016 Lottery complete.
- April 7th, 2015: H1B Cap Reached for FY 2016. Summary of USCIS News
- April 6th, 2015: Guidance to file Second Petition, if Delivery Service Errors
When will the H1B season for fiscal 2016 begin ?
USCIS will accept petitions for H1B Visa 2016 season starting from April 1st, 2015. USCIS did a press release on March 12th outlining the details. Read summary of press release by USCIS on H1B 2016 .
Will there be lottery again for H1B Visa 2016 ? Predictions ?
We had lottery for FY 2015 and FY 2014. The total number of petitions filed for FY 14 were about 125,000 and for FY 2015, there were about 172,500 petitions… As H1B Quota did not increase for FY 2016, and the demand does not seem to decrease, we would very likely have lottery for FY 2016. Read H1B Visa 2016 Lottery Predictions, Dates, Results
What is the H1B Visa quota Cap Count ? Would there be any changes to H1B 2016 count ?
H1B Visa quota cap count is the total number of petitions that USCIS will accept for a fiscal year to provide temporary work permit for highly skilled workers. For the 2016 fiscal year, the cap count is as below :
- Regular H1B Quota : 65,000
- H1B Masters Degree Quota ( only US Degrees) : 20,000
- Out of the above, a total of 6,800 is usually set aside for Singapore and Chile citizens as part of the free trade agreement between them.
As per the press release in March 2015, the quota did not increase. To give some background, as per the Obama executive action in Nov 2014, no changes were announced to the H1B Cap count. There was proposal in 2013 to increase H1B cap from 65,000 to 110,000 and Masters quota to increase from 20,000 to 25,000 did not go through as of March 2015. At least, for this FY 2016 season, the quota is fixed and it will be as above and no changes.
When should I start planning for H1B Visa 2016 ? What are the steps ?
It depends on your situation. Below are few scenarios and your plan.
- If you are a student on F1 Visa in USA, you need to plan for your internship/ CPT or OPT employment at a company that can sponsor your H1B Visa for FY 2016. In my view, you should start now to find something for the fall 2014 and continue that for next spring so that you can file for FY 2016
- If you are in other country and planning for H1B, it is good to start your process around the end of this year 2014. It will give you enough time to find sponsors, search for job, etc.
- If you are on H4, L1 or other visa in USA and planning for H1B for FY 2016, you also should consider looking around end of this year i.e. December 2014.
We have published step by step plan, you can read the article How to plan for H1B Visa 2016 ?Step by Step Guide
Most asked Question – How do I Find H1B Sponsors for FY 2016 ?
This is a million dollar question ! One of the biggest challenges is to find a good sponsor that can offer you a job and wait for you to start work after 6 months of filing your petition. You should review the detail article on How to find H1B Sponsors for FY 2015. Your first place of start is to find the H1B Sponsors in an area or by company. Use our H1B Visa Sponsors Database to search and filter. Read this article on details on how to search in our H1B Sponsor database. We keep the database updated as DOL publishes data. Do NOT share your email or phone number on our website as comments, there are many people do H1B Sponsorship fraud by requesting money using your contact info. RedBus2US.com never provides personal guidance on H1B sponsors or seeks money from anyone, we only display publicly available data on our H1B Sponsors Database page. We DO NOT sponsor H1Bs or guide anyone. Beware of H1B sponsorship Fraud !
What about Comprehensive Immigration Reform ( CIR) – H1B Visa Changes ? What are they ?
There have been some proposed changes to the H1B Visa program to cater to the demand in the US economy as part of the Comprehensive Immigration reform. Below are some of the proposed changes.
- H1B Cap to be increased from 65,000 to 110,000 per year. Also have provisions to have it up to 180,000 in case of extreme demand.
- Advanced degree from US cap quota to increase from 20,000 to 25,000
- The Filing fee for H1B could go up to 10,000 USD
- Additional H1B rules to avoid H1B Visa fraud by employers
- Mandatory LCA posting for 30 days before it is certified.
These were proposed in 2013, but nothing has moved significantly and all the above are just proposed rules. We are not sure when they will be implemented. You can read Summary of CIR – Immigration reform – H1B Visa and Green Card to get an idea. The latest update is that Obama has taken executive action on Immigration in Nov 2014 and none of the below are included as part of that. Stay tuned for updates.
H1B Visa 2016 Fees – Any changes ? How much does it cost ?
There are various components of the fee. The H1B Application filing fee could range anywhere from $1,600 USD to $4,400 depending on the size of the company. The attorney fee can range from $500 to $3000 depending on the attorney. If you apply for premium processing that is another $1,225. The fees has not changed in the past couple of years for FY 2014 and FY 2015. Unless USCIS revises fee based on immigration reform, it should be same. We will keep you all posted. For complete details of the fee by components and break up, read the article H1B Visa Fees and Who Pays for What ?
H4 Visa EAD rule impact on H1B Visa 2016 Season ?
As you know, certain H4 visa holders are now eligible for EAD. The H4 Visa EAD Rule Passed earlier in 2015 and is effective from May 26, 2015. USCIS will start accepting applications for EAD from those eligible H4 visa holders starting from May 26th. The question is that will that have an impact on number of H1B petitions for this fiscal year ? It very likely will have certain impact on the number of H1B applications that are filed for this year 2016 quota. Many of the H4 holders, who would now be eligible for EAD, may not apply for H1B visa, just because it gives them more flexibility to work and more choices to work as well. We would have to wait and see, how much of an impact that would have, but it is very straightforward and no brainer for eligible H4 visa holder to avoid the H1B processing.
H1B visa Premium Processing Changes to H1B Visa 2016 quota ?
USCIS updated in their press release that the premium processing will be accepted for FY 2016 quota and they will only begin that “no later than May 11, 2015”. What it means for the petitioners is that the official 15 day premium processing clock starts from May 11th, 2015 and their petition could be adjudicated within 15 days from May 11th, which would be May 26th, 2015. USCIS can process them earlier as well, but their new timeline is just indication for setting the right expectations to meet the stipulated time frame for premium processing.
Track H1B Visa 2016 Cap Count updates ?
As in previous years, we have created a page, where would track the cap count updates for FY 2016. You may check out H1B visa 2016 Cap Count Tracker.
While you wait, you can check out April 1st – USCIS H1B Visa 2016 Season Starts Today, When to expect Lottery ?
H1B Lottery Completed – Official Tweet and Press Release
USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016 http://t.co/fQ6EPUb8Y4
— USCIS (@USCIS) April 13, 2015
H1B Cap Reached – Official USCIS Tweet and Link to Press release :
We have reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for FY 2016 http://t.co/RTja7POWYY — USCIS (@USCIS) April 7, 2015
Any other questions ?
Just got up here in India and was disappointed to see no updates from USCIS. 🙁 so its going to be a loooonnngggg weekend. Almost 60 hrs of wait until Monday morning in USA.
one scary thing is… that the longer it takes USCIS to announce the count… the more likely the count would be higher… sigh.
Dont think so .. Initial verifications is what they much be doing. Every time they change strategy..
We need a hashtag slogan here. Let’s spread the word #h1bCheaters with the link to the petition on Twitter
i can see you busted soon for fraud
Anusha mam
Where is you? Want to work in job. Please say yes…
Internet grammar will correct in all the world.
It is true that cap quota needs to be increased based on the demand. If it happens they will not file multiple petitions . I filed only one petition. But I did not find any mistake in filing with multiple employers. It is legal. Criticism is not the right way to solve problems, Forgive me if my comments hurt any one.
I liked this
“Criticism is not the right way to solve problems”. How did you come up with something like that 🙂
I agree…same boat as u…
No it is not if real job do not exist or money is paid from petitioners pocket. Jail is guaranteed if caught.
Just kidding bro to break this utter silence I am seeing since long…
Where are the admins Saurabh and Kumar this time…no responses seen from them since long…
I think the delay might be due to high volume of applications as they had mentioned in the uscis site on april 7th. 🙁 Fingers crossed.
Yes they are still counting. I heard there are 1000 uscis employees who are continuously counting since April 1st without break.
Since this time it is huge, they may take few more weeks to finish counting.
This year’s lottery will not be done by computer but they will pick one by one from a big basket they have setup especially for this purpose.
^^sarcasm is fine but overdoing would cause boredom.
The huge volume of applications may lead to other processes and hence might be the delay.
Agree. It was too long and boring.
False – Fake
They even do initial inductions of applications. They will take 2-3 Days more to conduct Lottery . . Hold On
its now 11k+
Awesome mate!!! You rock.
Love you all for fighting against real Fraud, and sign petition.
Namastay! I did sign in my endorsement. I just wish the Petition was more coherent, as most of my circles are having a hard time to comprehend its contents. Can the owner of the petition edit the contents of the petition, to make it more readable. No? Just my thoughts.
For starters you can replace the word “cheaters” by saying “Rampant Fraud”. … and thus grabs more attention…
Best!
-Goodson
Something which I did suggest yesterday. It is difficult to comprehend for a regular non h1b guy or even for some h1b’s.
I can see an RFE for sure. Good luck
If they are genuine you will go into lottery. Else enjoy.
there is a group “fwd.us” that wants immigration reforms. facebook ceo is a big supporter of that reform. he also asked for increase in h1b cap since last two years.
See their website and about us our team page. Tweet those people. they are highly influential people. if a few ceo’s sign it or retweet it. it would be great.
@Riya,
If you read some past petitions that get responds, they were concerning issues in other countries rather than US: human rights in India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka… And they were requesting President Obama to take it from a foreign policy perspective. I believe these petitions are mostly created by citizens of the concerning countries, not US. So let’s just do our duties!
Filing a petition is a good initiative, but I did expect it to be written in some good sensible English.
This blog has all kids in it. Trolling and responding to trolls.
I wish you all luck.
Do you support it or not? Forget about english and grammar for now.
I do buddy. I am really mad at people who file h1b petitions from multiple sister consultancies – as they call it.
USCIS is well aware of that and with increase in competition they also did make a formal announcement this time around. If not this time, future h1b folks may get the benefits.
So I signed it.
You have contributed to a noble cause. Congratulations!!!
Oh not again!!!
1. You too are trolling
2. These kids are mature well educated professionals, many may be lot better than you in many aspect
These kids might be better than me in some aspects and vice versa. I understand that. Relax. And I was not trolling.
I have an idea!
Please tweet this link to all the celebrity accounts that you are following… If at least one or 2 cares and retweet, it will b a grand success like anything. Please do this I hv tweeted. Thank you.
Its good Idea, I am doing rightnow.
Me and my frds with You.
Just sign petition.
Feels like I did something good.
Its nice feeling when you do for good thing!!
Good idea. Just make sure celebrities understand it clearly.
If 1-2 picks it will go viral.
Keep encouraging people to do this in this forum. Post your message few time every 8-10 hours so that it do not get lost at the bottom.
Yes, we can do it.
C’mon everybody lets make happen.
Its flying, definitely we will WIN!!
YES, LETS DO IT.
Its reach 10765+
good job!!
agree with you all, its fight for good reason.
Me and my frds with You.
I signed and shared with my friends.
You guys rock. Keep the momentum, spread the word. This is going to decide our futures.
last year my h1b approved,
I missed sign in petition last year but this year I am supporting you, and voting for you.
Now, I feel its good conversation going on.
Great work, love you all.
Sign all and promote petition.
142 more sign in last 30 minutes. I am not sure if it possible to make so many fake ids so quickly.
These a real people. I just sent it to my friends in my university and we had a class now. 60 of us all signed right now.
Awesome mate!!! You rock.
@ Saurabh
So you mean people should not raise their voice since it is going to take a lot of time.
You think you are smart and 10k odd people who signed are dumb
@ Riya
Did you hack their servers to verify half of them are fake. You should work as a hacker and not troll this forum
You dont worry. It only had 6k sign in 5 years. This has 11k signs in a day. U r ignorant.
yeah right. Its not the number of years. Its the intensity of the issue. This is really intensified right now. The way you guys are going. U can even make 50K upto monday.
Doesn’t matter madam. If nothing else this will get noticed at the highest level and soon you will see action.
Even people in India and other countries who are going by legal route should sign and encourage people to sign.
This increases your chances.
When we wake up tomorrow morning here in US I would love to see lot of traction from India and other countries.
People please volunteer here and let everybody know where all you can post the petition info.
Maybe in your university portal if you are an alumni. Or Facebook pages. And do not underestimate direct contact approach. Please ask your friends and family to help.
Guys please post the petitions on university international students facebook pages and international students websites. All prospective h1B students will also sign. Everyone. Come on Make it count.
Come on
Yes, we can do it.
C’mon everybody lets make happen.
Its flying, definitely we will WIN!!
10,622
Growing by minute. Once it reaches 20k media will embrace it with open arms.
No announcement yet on the total count of petitions this year…usually the trend is that on 7th they announce that it hit the cap…and on 10th they announce the total count…
Something surely is cooking…if you smell…
No news yet. Is USCIS still counting the petitions? Because of excessive multiple petitions….
Hahaha…Payback time all you cheaters.
Guys please post the petitions on university international students facebook pages and international students websites. All prospective h1B students will also sign. Everyone. Come on Make it count
it is funny, how perspective changes, last year my company applied my visa, and it did not get selected. I was cursing everyone with multiple applications. Some had applied for 5, some had 7, and got 3 and 4 selected. I cursed them out, and people started cursing me, saying its upto them to apply for as many as they want, if you had problem, you should have applied for 10.. No one has stopped you…. I just don’t know being genuine is such big curse in this world. Where you hurt, financially, emotionally, and people curse you for being genuine, and talk for the people who cheated, and are fraudulent. I would suggest to every genuine candidate, do not entertain these consultancy multiple application people on this forum, do not reply to any of their questions. Just make them feel that they need to go to hell for ruining somebody else’s life, and career! (ps: this is my second and last time to apply, after this I will have to go on H4 to live with my husband in US, and waste my doctoral degree because of these crooks)
yeah these people feel proud about themselves after being such a pain. There seemed no fear in them in doing these wrong things. Now they will know.
Spread the word
Sign the Petition
I feel for you.
Even I was not selected last year. I hold multiple patents in my field of work and yet struggling to get a visa to stay in US bcoz of these cheats.
Contemplating
Hahaha
Great man Raj….Link works….got free amazon card… cheers… !
No fake signs please.
Easy way is ask your parents, siblings, friends and acquaintance with genuine email ids to sign. You can easily manage 5-10 people like this.
It will take just 5 minutes of their time. Also try to ask more people currently in USA like university friends.
You know what you are destroying the reputation of whatever firm you work for.
Nobody is going to send a dime using this service.
Any Updates on how many petitions were filled?
I heard that we would get complete details by 17th APR ’15.
Buddy make sure yours not weeded out in the process
The most fresh and quick solution would be to do what they do in the DV-Lottery (Greencard lottery). Countries that have sent more then X number of people in the previous Y years cannot send any new applications for Z years.
So, if China (just an example) got 100k people H1Bs in the last 3 years, China cannot apply for H1B again for 2 years.
That way the rotation would be better and fair to everyone else. (but, what’s fair, right!?)
Do not get into William’s trap. Just ignore. Let us just focus on job at hand.
@ William
Please start a new discussion thread for your concerns.
That would actually be a great idea. Other way around could be that although multiple petitions from different employers are allowed, if quota is reached they counted people, not the petitions while conducting lottery – this way it wouldn’t be any pros in filling multiple petitions, and more genuine people would get fair treatment.
10,375 right now! We should get it to 15K by the end of today. Come on guys start creating new email accounts! Some help would be handy.
Congratulations Luke on this excellent initiative. We need people like you.
THANK YOU LUKE
Last year I got my petition picked, this time its my wife’s (Single petition, FYI 🙂 ).
I see people discussing petitions, races, rapes and robberies, some even begging for the petition to be picked…can we not have some genuine sensible talk here? (like we did last year)
I am just curious where the admin is and why is he not banning spammers.
All the best everyone ! Just keep your hopes high…the end will be surely good…
Agree.
Do it already!
And btw…Spread the petition word. Get people to sign it.
You correctly say that slavery is over, so keep your liberty to yourself and let others do the same.
There were 172500 last year if atleast 70% of them were real applications. I guess if all real applicants know about this petition from last year and this year. Soon we wil have 100 K plus
True, it will also trigger some action against fake consultancies who manipulate resumes to get visa and jobs. Already they have banned a few of them last year
How did you get the 70%?
Please spread among people from as many countries as possible. Lets make it count guys. share beg borrow steal do what you can stand for your Right.
Petition is spreading like wild fire. I see people from Japan, Korea and many other countries signing it and spreading on social platforms.
Way to go!!!!
The best way is to set a threshold for each country separately, like 20k for India, 20k for China, 2k for Korea…. according to the total population ratio in these countries
We should try and tweet this (through the twitter link on the page) to h1b student groups, other similar blogs’ twitter handles, h1b student groups of your universities etc. Getting this across social media is the quickest way to let folks in our position know that this effort even exists. I’d say facebook too, there’s a whole bunch of folks there who would care.
I got lucky last year but tell you what instead of creating a petition to avoid duplicate and fake filing, you should have created a petition to bar the big IT companies from hogging all the applications. The big companies gobble up more than half of the h1b applications.
We should create a restriction on that. Maybe bar each big IT company from not having more than 2000 H1b for any year. That way everyone will get a H1b visa. Google out the facts for more details if you don’t trust me.
Think about it this year’s applicants. This is your chance.
You are right Vishnu. They are the reason why there is panic among all the current applicants. We should do something about the Big IT companies as you put it. Someone should create a fresh petition for just that.
What company you work for?
Let me guess congizant?
I work for top US MNC.
@True
We should not try to stop something which is legal. People will not take us seriously then and current petition will be impacted.
PS: I do not work for any of those companies who do mass filing.
Well, there should be rule for these companies that if they don’t send the person with H1 within 3 months after October 1st, that visa will be revoked. Because these companies file visa, and wait for 2 to 3 years to send these people here. I have seen people who got selected in 213, and 2014, still sitting India, don’t care about it, infact they are not even sure, if they want to come to US. And so many of my AD friends including me, had to quit the existing jobs, after paying thousands of dollars to US universities. And take another student loan to keep status.
All 10k people who already signed, if they can ask 5 more people to sign that makes 50k more. This much will be good enough to gain publicity. We do not even need 100k.
Everyone You have to get it signed by 10 people. in two days 5 ppl per day. and we are at 100K not onli noticed but we will see the results as well. 10 real people. No fake multiple signs Please. I know its tough but fight against fake has to be real . Be real Be honest
Well Done. I guess you are McKain. If we promote the issue at large its for sure gonna be noticed. and the good thing is they did not announce today. We have two days. lets make it count.
Its 3.30 am in India and I cant sleep. Any idea when will they announce the lottery details?
Single or multiple applications???
I have filed for two. One is regular and the other is premium through two consultants. Both for master’s quota.
Be awake dude. These guys are going to et multiple petition ppl have a hard time. You see the talking on this forum. Be awake
Graduated in MS in Dec 2011. I didn’t have a sponsor in 2012. I didn’t get through lottery in 2013, 2014 and this year I said to myself I will get it through multiple applications. I also have masters so better chances and I can always apply in that quota forever.
@Hyd
Sorry to say but you might not get any. You may even be blacklisted for filing multiple petition out of your pocket.
Follow the right path eventually you will get it.
@Hyd
Sorry mate. You look genuine. All the best.
Please dont create new accounts and sign. Please keep it truthful and honest. Ask friends family well wishers to sign . No Fake signs please. We can do it.
Thanks for sharing.
I am feeling definitely we will in this fight of Truth.
Come on Guys and Girls. Everyone who is honest, truthful and deserving ( Single Petition or Multiple, but genuinely filed with genuine employers) go ahead and sign the petition. It shall not happen that ALL MULTIPLE ( real and fake paid consultancies) get equal treatment and scrutiny. Since now it is single vs multiple. Lets make it Single v/s multiple genuine v/s multiple fake [paid and made to look real consultancies] . So that they dont discard all multiples. Go ahead and Sign.
How can you distinguish multiple genuine v/s multiple fake? Multiple is multiple period!
Not me USCIS will determine. If it is publicly traded well established company. It cannot be fake. USCIS will know it and will do it as it has done in the past. They know all. Period. Sign it Period.