This page is constantly updated with latest news, info, FAQs on current H1B 2018 season. Below are some topics, FAQs covered on this page.
- Start of H1B Visa 2018 season ?
- H1B Quota for FY 2018 ?
- H1B visa 2018 Lottery Predictions ?
- Plan for H1B FY 2018 Application ?
- Find Visa Sponsors for H1B 2018 ?
- H1B Visa 2018 Fee ?
- H1B 2018 Lottery Results
- H1B 2018 Petitions Tracker – Crowdsourced
- New President Trump Administration Impact on H1B Visa 2018 Quota?
- Latest News updates of H1B FY 2018
H1B 2018, 2019 Season is over, H1B 2020 Season Starts on April 1st, 2019. Check out H1B Visa 2020 – Start Date, Fee, Lottery – FAQs
If this is your first year of H1B visa filing, you must read What is H1B Visa, Requirements, Process . Not to scare you, Last year, there was lottery for H1B season and for FY 2017 USCIS received 236,000 applications .
When does H1B Visa 2018 Season Start ?
Update : USCIS accepted H1B Petitions for FY 2018 starting from April 3rd, 2017 until April 7th. They updated that H1B Cap was reached on April 7th, 2017.
Typically, USCIS accepts H1B petitions for next fiscal year starting from April 1st. So, for FY 2018, the start date for accepting applications would be April 1st, 2017. But, for FY 2018 season, April 1st falls on a Saturday, so USCIS will accept applications starting from Monday, April 3rd, 2017. If you were wondering why called 2018, when in 2017, it is the fiscal year dates that dictate that. USCIS fiscal year is from October 1st to March 30th. So, technically the fiscal year for 2018 starts from October 1st and they accept petitions for the same 6 months before the start date and it would be April 1st, 2017. You may read USCIS Press release for H1B 2017 Start Date
What is H1B 2018 Quota ? Regular Cap vs Master’s Cap Quota ?
Update : USCIS confirmed the below quota cap numbers in latest press release for FY 2018.
To get some background, read H1B Quota – Regular vs Masters . There have been many speculations on increasing the H1B Cap due to extremely high demand and bills proposed for the same in the past, nothing made it through. As of writing of this article, below is the H1B cap quota. We will keep this article updated as new changes come in. The total H1B Quota as of today is 85,000 and it is split like below.
| Regular H1B Quota | 65,000 |
| Master’s H1B Quota ( Only US Masters Degree Eligible) | 20,000 |
Out of the above 85,000 quota, 6,800 are set aside for Singapore and Chile citizens as part of the free trade agreement between them. Also, check out the article with history of maximum H1B Cap from 1990 to 2017
H1B 2018 Lottery Predictions ?
It used to be a speculation whether we would have lottery in previous years, but in the past 4 years, lottery has become common. It is very likely that we would have lottery aka random selection for H1B 2018 season. We have been writing predictions over the years and all of them have been accurate so far. Check out our H1B Visa 2018 Lottery Predictions – Data Analysis to get an idea on how many H1B petitions you can expect for this fiscal year.
Update : USCIS Received 199,000 H1B petitions for fiscal year 2018. H1B Lottery was conducted on April 11th, 2017.
Are you planning for next fiscal year, Read H1B Visa 2019 – Lottery Date, News, FAQs
When to plan for H1B 2018 Application – What should be your strategy ?
It is never too late to start planning…Depending on your situation, you may fall in one of the below categories and the suggestions are described below.
- F1 Student in USA : If you are studying on F1 visa and about to graduate in next one year, you should seriously look at finding an internship or co-op at companies that can sponsor your H1B visa. You can search for H1B Sponsors in a particular area using our H1B Sponsors Search Tool and try to get an internship to work there on CPT or OPT after you graduate. This is a strategic move and will require sometime, so plan well.
- Working Professional from outside USA : If you are a working professional outside US, planning to work in US, especially on H1B visa, your best bet is to find Multinational companies ( MNCs) that have major US presence and secure a job there, so that you can position internally for applying to H1B visa, when the season starts. This is a very strategic decision, you need to carefully assess your options, speak to the company if such options exist and then only choose it. There may be many people already in-line for these visas, you need to plan carefully so that you are given a slot in the company’s filing for your next season application.
- Other H4, L1 Visas : If you are on these visas living in USA, your best bet is to find companies just like I mentioned for F1 students that sponsor H1B visas and start interviewing and keeping the conversation going so that you can ask them to file H1B when the season starts.
For FY 2017, we have put together a Step by Step Plan on How to apply for H1B 2017 Quota, it gives a guideline on the planning and what steps exists.
How to find H1B Visa Sponsor for FY 2018 quota ?
This is probably the most asked question by everyone. It can be a tricky decision, you need be very careful to avoid fraud.
- If you are student in the US, it is very straight forward, you find the list of H1B Sponsoring companies using the tool in an area as I mentioned above and get an internship in one of them so that they can sponsor your H1B visa.
- If you are professional planning to arrive in US from outside America, it can be really tricky. If you work for an Multinational company ( MNC), then they will have some internal process to pick the candidates and then process H1B visa for them…The other option that has been used and abused is the consulting companies route…Many a times, the H1B aspirants approach a body shop IT consulting company to file H1B for them and they apply for the same. It gets nasty with the body shop consulting companies. The comments on this H1B Companies Reviews article are quite eye opening. I advise, you beware of the consulting companies and avoid fraud.
- Also, WE as RedBus2US do NOT provide any guidance or assistance or sponsor anything. If someone claims that, it is pure fraud and they are trying to trick you, we are not responsible for that. Please be careful
We have an article that we wrote for previous season, you may read article How to find H1B 2017 Sponsors to find out various options.
What is H1B Visa 2018 Fee ? How much does it cost for the company ?
The H1B fee varies by the size of the company..As of FY 2017 season, it can range anywhere from $1,600 USD to $7,400 USD + Attorney Fee. On December 23, 2016 , USCIS increased the H1B fee component of base filing fees, which was $325. The below table is updated with the latest fee updates from USCIS. There are various fees components that make up this number range, for more details Read Summary of H1B Filing Fee 2017 – Who pays for What ? . Below is a high level summary from FY 2017 quota. If any changes, we will update this accordingly.
| H1B Fee Component | Fee in USD |
| Base filing fee | $460 |
| AICWA Fee | $750 or $1,500 |
| Fraud prevent & detection fee | $500 |
| Fee based on Public Law 114-113 ( if applicable) | $4000 |
| Premium processing fee (Optional) | $1,225 |
| Immigration Attorney Fee | Varies from $500 to $3000 |
H1B 2018 Lottery Results – Checks Cashed, Receipts :
One of the most asked questions is when will I get to know the lottery result for my petition. Well, this depends on many factors and there is no set SLA or date. To put things in perspective, last year, USCIS did a news alert indicating that they have returned all the rejected H1B petitions on July 8th, 2017. So, you can expect the last date for receiving final lottery decision around mid July 2017. …As we had about same number of petitions filed for FY 2018, it may be slightly earlier or even later in July or even early August 2017… Few of the ways you would know, if you are selected in lottery is that, if the check that was filed with your H1B petition was cashed, or your employer gets the actual physical receipt notice in mail to them. If you filed under US masters quota, SEVIS update is another indication that you were selected in H1B lottery for FY 2018. Ideally, your receipt numbers should arrive within 1 to 2 months…but, you never know, until you get a reject notice to be sure !
H1B 2018 Case Tracker :
Did you apply for FY 2018 ? With premium processing suspended, it is quite hard for applicants to know the general status of everyone to understand their situation. We have put together a tracker along with good graphs for analysis. It is completely anonymous as we do not capture your case number or any personal information. It is community contributed data, the more you add, the better for everyone, including You !
[prompt type=”left” title=”Track your H1B Case” message=” Anonymously Track your H1B Case – Share and Get updated from Community.” button_text=”H1B 2018 Case Tracker” href=”https://redbus2us.com/trackers/h1b-visa-tracker/”]
New President Trump Administration Impact on H1B Visa 2018 Quota?
We do not know, if this news release is directed by Trump administration or not…but, on April 3rd, 2017 the start date of H1B season, there were set of new announcements made by USCIS to report and prevent abuse of H1B program. Check out USCIS New measures to report, prevent H1B Fraud . Besides this, as of the today ( article updated date), nothing has been officially ordered or specifically implemented by New President Trump Administration. There are many speculations on how H1B program will become tougher with higher wages, quota limits, etc… but, nothing has been officially signed. We will update the article as new updates come in.
Various H1B Bills in US House and Senate – Will they be passed for FY 2018 ?
There are few bills that are introduced in 2017 and at various stages in both house and senate. There are many confusions regarding the same bills like the minimum wage will go up to $130,000 USD, etc. Fact is that nothing has passed and there are very slim chances for them to get passed before start of FY 2018 season. You can check H1B Bills Tracker to get more details on current status. We will keep the article updated as new things are passed.
Latest News about H1B 2018 Season
High Level Latest News for FY 2018 is listed below. But, all the Latest News are tracked on our H1B 2018 News and Updates Tracker Page. Check out below.
- April 17th, 2017 ( Official ) : USCIS released a press note indicating that they received 199,000 petitions for FY 2018 quota. Check article : Summary of FY 2018 H1B Cap Lottery 199k Petitions
- April 13th, 2017 ( Unofficial ) : ImmigrationGirl, an attorney’s blog, confirms that one of their H1B petitions Masters’s cap checks were cashed yesterday. It is weird that USCIS is processing the petitions, without announcement. It means that Lottery was done to some extent at least Masters quota, but announcement is yet to come. Check http://immigrationgirl.com/h-1b-lottery-progress-begins/.
- March 15, 2017 : USCIS Accepts H1B 2018 Petitions from April 3, 2017
- March 3, 2017 : USCIS Suspends H1B Premium Processing for FY 2018, All for 6 Months
[prompt type=”left” title=”H1B 2018 – Latest News Updates” message=” Most recent and complete history of all latest breaking news updates from Official sources like USCIS and Unofficial sources for FY 2018 Season.” button_text=”Latest H1B 2018 News” href=”https://redbus2us.com/h1b-visa-2018-cap-count-updates-tracker-latest-news-info/”]
Are you planning for FY 2018 quota ? What are your questions ? Add your thoughts.
http://www.livemint.com/Money/esVjUIyCLRxOaDyAaoX65L/H1B-visa-IT-investors-may-as-well-say-goodbye-to-recovery-i.html
Analysts at Nomura Research point out that 40-60% of labour condition applications (LCAs) filed by Indian IT firms were in the entry-level or Level 1 category last year. LCA filings are a pre-requisite for H1B visa applications. Nomura’s findings are based on data provided by Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) Data Center for the period October 2105 till September 2016. The chart above has details of LCA filings by top IT outsourcing companies.
H1b visa introduced by USA for Gud purpose, Encouraging talented among all countries from the world.
It’s not just for India alone or Infosys. Fair chance should be given to All, Equal opportunity to everyone.
But companies like infosys, cap Gemini, TCS exploiting the Current Immigration system.
It’s kind of fraud and visa Abuse.
Sending thousands of Programmers and leaving no chance to the guys who studied in US & working in Silicon start up’s.
Companies are looting World wide H1bVisas ; Earning huge profits Quarterly basis on those sent Body Shoppers.
Hello All! Please use this email id published on USCIS site to report all FAKE consultancies who are asking people to pay for visa and reducing the chances for us genuine applicants (Desi consultancies). I am fighting back and so should you!
reporth1babuse@uscis.dhs.gov
Yes we can send Hell lot of mails to stop these big IT giants from India Exploring & Exploiting the system at their Convenience.
We should lodge a Court case against WITCH Companies to stop Visa Abuse. WITCH Companies should be limited by 1000 applications per each company. so that Every one get Fair Chance.
They are doing Business with our Chances & Immigration system.
hmm…150 K Petitions so far not as per USCIS insider but as per analytics person working at FEDEX back end team
I wonder how the per-day distribution is spread. I would assume that the first 3 days are the busiest. Probably then the final number should be about 200-220, as predicted by Admin.
Hey Koste how are you Man ??
After so many days, I found you Tweeting…Wassup ??
Have you eaten Aloo Samosa, Which you believe good Lucky sign.
tRY Chole Samosa along with green chutney
Hi sourabh,
My lca has to date of June 2018. If my h1 picked in lottery and stamping gets delayed suppose beyond June can my employer file new LCA again?
Also my lca has one location if my client is changed then I have to go to another location . Since lca has old location so will it cause any problem or employer can file new LCA?
Lca doubt,
If LCA is valid until 2018, then corresponding H-1 petition would also be approved until 2018. If LCA expires or becomes invalid due to change of work location, then new LCA and I-129 needs to be processed. Stamping would be put on hold until a valid 797 is issued (as part of I-129 processing).
Thanks sourabh. While stamping visa expiration date will they give based on LCA end date or is it depends on any other form?
Lca doubt,
After LCA is certified, employer submits it along w/ I-129 to USCIS who would review and on approval issue 797. The 797 will have the same end date as I-129. The visa stamp will be based off 797.
Thanks sourabh
If you change your employer on H1, do you have to attend the VISA interview again for stamping or you can use the drop box?
As per my knowledge, you have to go for Visa interview.
As long as your current H1 is active or it was expired within last 1 year, you will be eligible for Dropbox. Rule is changed and changing employer is not a dependency any more….
Question,
Change of employer doesn’t disqualify you from dropbox. So provided you satisfy other conditions for dropbox, you can still opt for it.
I am sorry but what are the other conditions for drop box? Please pardon my low knowledge on this matter.
Thanks
Question,
Read this.
Hi Saurabh
I have applied for H1B visa from company A and H4 for my dependents and got stamped. Now I am alone travelled to US and changed the employer and got approval and started working with new employer. But my dpendent never travelled to US.
Now my question is, since I changed the employer my dependent should go for stamping again for H4 or they can travel with old stamping? If they should go for stamping will they eligible for dropbox. Can u pls help to share the information.
they can travel as long as Visa stamped is valid on passport
Sonith,
As HarryH1b mentioned, they can travel as long as the previous visa stamp is valid and has not expired. They should also carry copy of your new 797 and let the CBP officer know. By default they take the employer information from visa stamp, which would be incorrect in this case.
Since the Premium processing is stopped how long does H1B transfer takes? I got a really good job opportunity with 100K Salary. I am only worried if the Approval takes more than 240 Days.
H1BTransfer,
It could take 8-9 months (best guess). Hopefully they would restart PP option once they are done with majority of FY-18 applications. 240 day window should impact you only if your I-94 is expiring.
At times, employer want the approval notice in hand by the time you start employment so that they know for sure that you would be employed with them. This adds uncertainty around it and would vary from employer to employer.
My I 94 is expiring in Dec 2018 and new employer is fine with just transfer reciept. But need more clarity on 240 day rule, do you have any USCIS link where I can get more information?
H1BTransfer,
I don’t have the link handy but the rule is that one can stay inside US for up to 240 days post I-94 expiration date provided there is a timely filed I-94 extension. In your case, H-1 transfer would be accompanied with I-94 extension. So you can stay for up to 240 days beyond Dec 2018, unless I-94 extension is denied earlier.
Check page 3 of the document at USCIS Link for 240 Days rule
Yes it will take around 6 – 8 months. If u don’t want to let go of the opportunity then u can join the firm once u get the receipt notice from USCIS. But u have to accept the risk involved. Its a big decision to make so be careful. Talk with your employer if they can wait for 6 months (highly unlikely). If your employer is big enough then you can probably go ahead and join them after H1 receipt.
What would happen if the old employer withdraws the petition while the transfer is in process?
After you quit, the old employer has to withdraw the petition. It shouldn’t affect the transfer process. So i think as long as you have the receipt you can start working for the new employer.
Thank you
Please read the new article from the Immigration girl coming just now. It may be helpful.
http://immigrationgirl.com/h-1b-lottery-faqs-fy2018/
As per my analysis b/w LCA count vs Petitions count:
1. 2013 -> LCA: 412K & Petitions: 124K
1. 2014 -> LCA: 423K & Petitions: 172K
2. 2015 -> LCA: 528K & Petitions: 233K
3. 2016 -> LCA: 555K & Petitions: 236K
4. 2017 -> LCA: 411K & Petitions: 120K – 125K(Prediction)
125 is illogically low. It just doesn’t make sense. And please stop making guesses based on simple LCA counts. That approach has proven to be wrong so many times in the past.
I did my own little math after reviewing data from various sources:
FY2017 = Total LCA’s registered (554,953) > Top 30 employers LCA registered (167,841) > H1B applications (236,000)
FY2018 = Total LCA’s registered (414,005) > Top 30 employers LCA registered (106,449) > LCA’s filed with Job title – Computer Programmer = (9197)
– Total LCA filings = down 25%
– Top employer LCA filings = down 36%
FY2018, H1B application estimate in the range of 188,800 – 200,600 (roughly 15 – 20% lower than FY2017)
VS, one trick is that DOL fiscal year is from Oct 1st, to Sept 30th. So, the numbers you see for FY 2018 does not include that LCAs that will be filed from April to Sept 30. That’s the reason you see LCAs low for FY 2018…
Looking at 2013 – 2016. Here’re when the news “USCIS Reaches FY 201X H-1B Cap” was released.
April 8, 2013
April 7, 2014
April 7, 2015
April 7, 2016
???
By friday/Monday we should hear news
Can I apply for amendment while I am waiting for visa extension approval ?
Better to apply for Amendment after ur extension is approved.
Yeah you can
If two different employers file visa for me because I had offer from two employers. and both get picked in the lottery. Will this be considered as illegal ?
Because a person can have multiple offers?
Please suggest !
Hope for H1b,
Yes, different employers can apply H-1B petition for same employee. However, if USCIS determines that the employers conspired to do this (to improve the chances of selection in lottery), petition would be denied.
How would they know that someone did conspiracy ?
Hope for H1b,
There could be several indicators like multiple petitions filed through small consulting companies, same companies filing multiple petitions for different candidates, same company address or owner structure etc.
I would assume they have an early warning system to tag such applications and after a manual review they would issue RFE to ask for proof of spontaneity. Even if the companies have not conspired and USCIS issues such RFE, it would be bad news for the employee as most folks would not update their employers about duplicate filing.
I am sorry all Indians….
Really shame on my thinking….
#Duplicate#Impostor#Charlatan#Supplanter
Which grade are you still in ? I hate stereotyping but a lot of posters here are this way, IMBECILES… Not sure how large this sample size is though..
However with this kind of attitude don’t be surprised if you get the biggest can of rearwhup opened by us at the right time..
Ohhh…Sorry again I am not sure what I am doing… I may have spilt personality….
Sorry again all Indians, Asians etc etc….
I really understand now to not make a fun of any religion and god. May God forgives me and forgives all my sins….
I heard there is some news on banning computer programmers.
What is that exactly? Are USCIS is going to filter some applications before going through lottery?
More like after they’re gone through the lottery. No biggie, just a cosmetic show of “hey we’re doing our best”.
H1b Visa,
They are not being “banned”. You can read about the discussion here.
IMO, there would be no filtering done prior to the random selection.
Hi Admin
If no filtering done prior to random selection, cant someone just apply like 1000 (arbitrary #) McDonald’s cashier? Yes, that person will get declined at the end, but doesn’t that person basically screw everyone over because he/she took so many slots?
Steve,
The petition needs to be applied by the employer and they cannot apply multiple petitions for the same employee.
So a crooked company would have to file 1000 petitions (taking your example) to flood the lottery pool. Let’s assume only 10 are for real candidates and rest 990 are for dummy candidates. You can do the math, but chances of one among those 990 getting selected is almost 100 times more than one from the real 10. If one of those 990 dummy candidates get selected, then petition would be denied on its merit and the company would lose the entire money.
In the past I haven’t seen much data on system being abused this way. What I have seen is a single candidate having petitions filed through multiple employers (legally allowed).
Saurabh,
I think you are not getting Steve’s point. My interpretation of his point is that if someone is not eligible to get H1B what is the point in including him in the lottery. Eventually if and when he gets picked in the lottery his VISA is going to be denied on the basis of ineligibility but by then it too late to roll that spot back into the system. Essentially he wasted 1 out of 85000 VISAs which could have gone to an eligible applicant, had he been removed from the pool before the lottery.
Vishal,
There is no blanket ban on Computer Programmers. So USCIS would not reject a petition just because its for a particular job code. They would still need to review supporting document like experience, education etc. Even in this case, USCIS would most likely issue RFE for clarification and then make their decision.
In the past, when petitions have been rejected (not denied but rejected), it has been done after the lottery has been conducted.
As for missing out on a spot, it is my understanding that USCIS selects extra petition as cushion for the rejected/denied/withdrawn petitions.
Vishal
DOJ had plenty to time to issue this Memo in Feb and March. But they waiting till April 3rd to issue it.
They know that if they would have issue this memo in Feb or March, then they will receive this many less application and they would have to issue 85k H1B.
Doing this, they may do random lottery and during the time of review if they find out they do not meet the memo criteria then they will issue RFE, which the applicant employer needs to answer.
In short, number of H1B that will be Approved at the end of this process will be less than 85k.
Let’s say if number of application is less than 85K altogether this weekend, then whether we will recieve reciept numbers starting next week without lottery? Without announcement of season end date. Am I correct?
That’s the height of optimism ! I so wish though (sigh) Looking at LCA count and all the hype..seems highly unlikely that petitions will be lesser than 200k
If that really is the case, then yes. Though theoretically possible, it is practically impossible.
USCIS release Memo on April 3, 2017 that not to consider Entry Level Computer Programme for H1B whose salary is competitive less.
Many people has mailed the application on March 31, 2017.
My question is, if they receive approximately 245,000 application. During the lottery selection, they don’t consider salary and entry level position. They will randomly select 65000+20,000 application. Then while reviewing the application they will determine whether to give substantiate review to this application or not? If this happens in actual end of the complete review process, there will be less than 85,000 with H1B.
Nobody expected that USCIS can release a new memo on 3rd April without passing any executive order.
It doesn’t make sense to accept applications knowing that they will reject them later. So filtering will be done first followed by either lottery or other mechanism
Things are going to be different this year.
What I think is, they waited till all the applications come through to the USCIS.
On 1st day of H1B got kicked they issue a Memo.
What I am thinking is they did this intentionally to have fewer than 85,000 H1Bs this year.
What you saying does not make any sense: they should look into each application, then do initial filing review and then go for lottery. Why would they waste so much of time and resource to do initial review, then do lottery and a substantiate review.
I don’t think the intention is to reduce the number of H1B visas. Executive order would have been enough to do that. The intention is to give it to highly skilled people.
This has been a doubt in my mind since a while and this year all the more reasons for this concern. They only scrutinize applications after lottery. They have to issue 85,000 visas each year. Do they pick up a buffer for rejected applications ? Some people (with multiple entries) or otherwise may refuse H1B immediately. Some might get rejected sooner, do they have a buffer to replace these petitions ? What about those petitions that get rejected after 5-6 months. Does that mean that’s a H1B wasted with no way to replace it anymore ? I would really appreciate some insight on this Kumar/Saurabh or anyone who knows. Would be good to know that such petitions at least don’t take away some deserving candidates chance at Visa. Thanks !
I have been in a similar situation in 2015 when my employer filed by petition for the first time. There is a lot of hope and then despondency by end of April or early May if you don’t hear from your attorney.
From what I have analyzed since past 2 years is that once 85000 applications are picked-up in lottery, USCIS DO NOT conduct second round of lottery from denied or withdrawn applications, IT’S PERIOD
Recently I have been reading some comments wherein people are stating their approved application was reopened and revoked, it does seem like a case of multiple applications getting picked up and eventually being denied resulting in genuine candidate losing out on deserving approval.
Can’t help but that’s how things are !
Hope this year will be better for you, Good Luck !
As far as I know, they select a little more than 85k bc they know they’ll reject some petitions for one reason or another.
Further details, on the other hand, are not made public. One we submit our petitions to the USCIS, they enter a black box and no one really knows what exactly goes on in there.
Genuine4thTimer,
USCIS hasn’t been very transparent about this. However, there are couple of memos (don’t have the links w/ me at the moment), which give an idea of what they do:
– In 200x, they mentioned that any unused petitions from the fiscal year are added to the next fiscal year’s lot. This was way before the first lottery of 2007 (FY-08).
– In 20xx, they mentioned that any unused 6500 numbers (set aside for Singapore and Chile) will be added to next fiscal year’s lot.
– In 20xx, they mentioned that they would selection additional petitions to make-up for the denied ones. This was after lottery had become the norm.
IMO, they select additional petitions in the lottery to accommodate for the ones that would get denied/rejected/withdrawn. There is no additional lottery conducted, and the additional count picked is based on historical rejection rate.
Take this with a grain of salt as USCIS hasn’t provided any clear transparency. Unless USCIS publishes more information, its just a working theory.
Thank you for your detailed response. I appreciate how you are trying to help the H1B community!
One surprising piece of information for all the people who have applied fro H1B this year!!!
There are many who may end up trying to judge my comments. I am posting a disclaimer, that my comments are purely based on today’s findings, and from company to company it may differ.
Information: Ok all these discussion, I thought about the numbers, I have been following for the past three years on this website. I am a normal H1B applicant, have 7 plus years of experience in IT and am not a programmer as well.
I have got nothing to gain from posting my comments. Today, I got an update that among all the LCA which is showing as Certified on the official website of DOL for the FY-2018, a lot of companies may not end up filing the same number, when they send it finally post March 31st to USCIS. I am not joking. These are facts based on best of communication from resources.
A lot of the LCA’s which may not get filed, depends on a lot of factors, varying from company to company (but mostly in line with the Programmers with less amount of experience – the less amount of experience although may range from 1-3 years for different companies).
But this is the only piece of information I have with me. I pray that may the best one gets the H1b this year. I have no hard feelings for the less experienced folks, but this is the important piece of information, I have to share.
The authenticity of my write-up can definitely be questioned, but I am posting all these due to the current updates I have, in the best interest of all.
You may be right..!! I was so shocked to know when my manager asked a couple of senior developers to initiate their visas yesterday[4th April] in our company’s internal portal…!!!
No idea what’s happening..!!!
I am speechless! How could that be?!
No seriusly, what is it you’re saying?
I swear I’ve no idea…!!! They hurried them up to initiate in the internal portal…
I was shocked. They are having 10 plus years of experience.
Initially they were denied initiation because they were lateral entries and had not crossed the internally set time period for their visas to be initiated.
But, all these internally set rules were broken and they were asked to initiate yesterday.
Clueless about what’s happening!!!
Saurabh, do you still believe that there will be a lottery for H1B? In that case, when will they scrutinized the applications? After Lottery or before Lottery? Very confusing.
Hanuman,
I still think there would be lottery. I would expect the applications to be scrutinized after they have been selected in the lottery. There is a possibility that USCIS will increase the buffer of extra petitions selected as the denial numbers may be more than the historical average.
I work for a consultancy. i have been working with them for over 3 years now. my client is a research organization working on advanced technologies. when i see you guys generalizing consultancies being sweat shops , i would like you to also know there are many many such companies that are genuine and follow “rules” . so what you guys should say is “fake people” who are responsible for degradation of quality of h1b visa program . and for all those american patriots , i absolutely understand your pain. I know there are lot of crappy programmers who take advantage of every loop holes a program has and are proud of it. i am sorry on behalf of all those crooks and you like you to understand there are lot of genuine programmers too who are inspired by the concept called “Living the american dream”
@not all are fake
You hit the nail right on the head, we are absolutely not against scientists, doctors and highly paid R&D professionals coming here. We will welcome them with all we have.
Its the labor arbitrage that is being portrayed as a talent shortage which irks us all, and training the replacement kind of inhuman treatment, that an average american has to face.
If someone is so talented why not apply for the O-1 visa which is for outstanding talent.
The NarayanaMurthy and others who are called the fathers of Indian IT industry did nothing cutting edge but labor arbitrage, compare that with our founders like Mr BillG, or LarryP etc. I do appreciate the fact some of our tech powerhouses were co-founded by Indians, and that’s the talent we want here.
I am not against importing labor from other countries, but when our own citizens are suffering, and are being given the short end of the stick, its not acceptable or justified.
@USAPatriot
Unfortunately, as a doctor I am not eligible for an O-1 visa, or I would have tried by now. Unfortunately without a reform of the current system the IT industry will bully all other professions where there is a true lack of numbers, such as the healthcare industry etc.
I feel Canada has a good system based on points, where the better the degree awarded/work experiece/language skills, the better chance of entry you have. Should allow top talent to enter the country whilst not being overly restrictive. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on that.
PS British, not Indian or in IT industry
I am really sorry to hear your predicament. Yes healthcare should definitely have more representation in the visa numbers.
The best parameter so far to me is salary, since that is a true test of the value of the skillset brought in.
I am sure a salary based selection will give doctors the upper hand..
H1B body shops are abusing the system as well as Indian outsourcing companies. I have been approached by few H1B body shops (Rang Technologies, Indotronix International Corporation, Softpath System LLC, Axius Technologies, Reliable Software Resources Inc, and few others) regarding Data Scientist/Deep Learning positions in West and East coasts. I am calling these companies (names listed in the previous sentence) as H1B body shops because over the phone I was told by their representative to send my resume in word so that they can add fake experience to it and market my profile to companies. I had submitted my resume (written in LaTeX) to various Job boards such as Indeed, Glassdoor, Cybercoders, etc. Somehow these H1B body shops got a copy of my resume and decided to reach out to me regarding sending them a word copy of my resume and seeking my approval on adding fake experience to it. Also, over the phone I told the representative about my salary range of $120K to $130K, after hearing the range the representative told me that maximum they can pay is $100k (only one H1B body shop mentioned this figure, others told me range between $60K to $90K). I declined these H1B body shops interview offers.
I have been living in the U.S. legally for last 11 years. Finished M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering from University of California. My Ph.D. research was funded by over $250K research grants from U.S. government (Tax payers money!). I have 3-4 patent ideas that can help people, but I have not applied for patents because each patent costs around $15K (one of my friend who is a Patent Attorney in Boston told me this figure) and I do not have enough savings, my first priority is to return $40K (education loan) to Indian bank.
I am currently on STEM OPT extension (final extension which expires in a few month) and because my OPT extension is expiring soon and I need H1B visa sponsorship it had been very difficult for me to get a job. I had interviewed with Whisper (recruiter, data challenge, technical), Amazon (recruiter, data challenge, onsite), Instacart (recruiter, data challenge), 23andme (recruiter, data challenge), Hulu (recruiter, Hiring manager very impressed with my profile), Facebook (recruiter – found me through github), General Electric (recruiter), and a few other established startups (recruiters, challenge, technical) in SFO (I mentioned salary range to be $120K to $130K when I was asked about salary expectations during the initial interview). Some of these companies gave me a data challenge which I successfully solved and for a few companies I was in their top 3 candidate list and was waiting for next stages of interview process. Fortunately, I was offered (mid February 2017) a Data Scientist position (with H1B sponsorship) at a stealth startup in Southern California at $110K salary + few perks. I had offer in hand and time for H1B application was running out so accepted the offer. If I had no problems such has OPT expiration or H1B visa sponsorship, I would have waited for other companies interview process and negotiated salary with the stealth startup.
At stealth startup we are creating an A.I. that will help people, I can not disclose more because of NDA. For the last 3 months the CTO (who is a U.S. citizen and a PhD) has been looking to hire Data Scientists/Deep Learning Scientists but it has been very difficult. I personally reached out to my U.S. citizen friends (PhD in Pure Math, Biomedical Engineering, and other STEM degrees) some are fresh out of school so they did not perform very well in the interview and some had jobs at startups in SFO. PhDs are preferred at this startup because of their analytical skills, attention to detail, ability to learn new things on their own, and potential to work very hard. I also reached out to international PhD/Master friends regarding opportunities but still we have not found the right candidate. Please remember that working at a stealth startup is very stressful, one has to work 12-14 hours a day, sometimes one has to work on the weekends to develop the product before competitors.
People in the U.S. or around the world should be worried about loosing their jobs to A.I. in near future (next 10-15 years). Soon there will be self-driving cars, car insurance jobs will go away because there will be less accidents, tax related jobs will be lost (H&R Block is developed/developing an A.I. to do taxes), few law related jobs will be lost (JPMorgan Software Does in Seconds What Took Lawyers 360,000 Hours), chat bots will replace helplines, few cashier jobs (Amazon self checkout stores), food delivery jobs, etc.
Even after all this, i.e. M.S and Ph.D. in STEM field from a top U.S. public university, a good high salary job, 11 years in the U.S. (I am a changed person now, living in a different country for a long time changes you), and etc. my fate in the U.S. depends on a random lottery! Indian outsourcing companies like Wipro, TCS, Infosys get majority of H1B visas. These outsourcing companies pay $65,000 to $75,000 a year (Trump Is Running Out of Time to Change Work Visas and How Outsourcing Companies Are Gaming the Visa System) and bring people from India with B.S. degrees from some unknown colleges. These outsourcing companies get around 70% of coveted 85000 capped H1B visas. I know a person who went to some school in India for B.S. and he came to U.S. on H1B visa ($65K salary) and works in New Jersey at Tech Mahindra Americas Inc., I went to high school with this person and let me state that his skills are just average and not better than a U.S. citizen who has a B.S. degree. These outsourcing companies game the system, they apply multiple H1B visas for the same person to that they will have a higher chance in getting selected in the random lottery.
I am hoping that U.S. government scraps the random lottery system and give H1B visa to applicants with high paying jobs ($100K) and graduates with M.S. or Ph.D degrees from doctoral granting universities.
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/h-1b-visa-norms-to-have-little-impact-nasscom/article17815435.ece
H1b visa introduced by USA for Gud purpose, Encouraging talented among all countries from the world.
It’s not just for India alone or Infosys. Fair chance should be given to All, Equal opportunity to everyone.
But companies like infosys, cap Gemini, TCS exploiting the Current Immigration system.
It’s kind of fraud and visa Abuse.
Sending thousands of Programmers and leaving no chance to the guys who studied in US & working in Silicon start up’s.
ey Saab Madarchoot WITCH Companies are looting World wide H1bVisas ; Earning huge profits Quarterly basis on those sent Body Shoppers.
Outsourcing firms are going to face tough times in this year H1B selection
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/h-1b-visa-revamp-poised-to-benefit-big-u-s-tech-punish-outsourcers-1677425?pfrom=home-lateststories
Their party seems to be over
Canada is offering Express entry ; No Lottery.
Direct PR, equivalent to Green Card (which takes atleast 15++ yrs to get in US)
Please provide the details
First of all you need to get good scores in IELTS General.
You have to complete Educational Evaluation via WES Canada.
With your Indian IT Experience you can get enough points to get Selected for PR.
It’s called CANADA EXPRESS ENTRY – You will get Direct PR From India or US.
You better Google for more information on this….
Not only Canada, there is EU – Blue Card to Work & Live in Europe.
Even Australia PR Process is also pretty straight forward, Check New Zealand PR as well : https://www.immigration.govt.nz
Canada – Express Entry for PR
EUROPE – Blue Card for PR
Australia – PErmanent Residency
New Zealand PR
Google 4 more Info….
Canada is not a good choice for IT jobs. If you are comparing from the US hardly 10% of IT jobs exist & there is fierce competition. You might get a PR fast but life there is a big struggle. I have seen almost everyone doing mean jobs for minimum wage. The cost of living is pretty high. If you have kids the education system is even lenient than the US (Forget comparing to India). Canada option is good for less educated persons who can’t have any survival in India but can do laborous work & earn.
I am nor sure about other countries.
@ H1-Process
You can misguide people with your Half Knowledge.
Canada is a beautiful country, Indians are well respected, Not much Crime when compared to US, I have lot of Friends & Family over there.
It’s an option for better and convenient Life. If your looking for a Good Sophisticated life with good education,medical care for children & Family Members.
Getting Green Card is not so easy, Takes many years to achieve which is similar to PR in Canada with in just an year or less.
It’s not for less educated as you stated, Only ignorant people like you think Canada is a Country full of Labor Jobs.
Canada is a developed nation with good Decent Jobs similar to other Advanced Nations.
Wishing bad or blaming guys working with consultancies is not going to solve your problem. I have been in your place, was tensed but it worked out. This is not the end. Set a new goal and run after it. If you argue for your excuses you get to keep them..think about it.. Invest in yourself..channel your energy..dnt waste time cursing or over thinking this.
Absolutely. This is not the end of the world. If things work out great, if not even better. But DO NOT join the fake consultancies just because you want to stay in US. There are better options around the world. Good luck and stay positive.
Yea True…. Agree
Australia is the Best option ; Getting score of 75 in PTE Academic and then Education & Experience EVALUATION.
EOI takes 4to5 months and after couple of months to get PR
Cheat
Hi Saurabh
I have 5 years exp. got my extension approved. Travelling to india on April 8th 2017. I am going to go for dropbox for my stamping. Will there be any issue for me.
Note : completed engineering in mechanical.
Current role is Web developer (user interface)
Am i going to have impact due to this computer programmer memorandum ?
Suren,
Doesn’t look like you should be impacted. Just check the SOC code in your LCA and talk to your attorney before leaving.
Hi Saurabh
What are all SOC codes effected? Pls sure if u hav information
H1B Ext,
The only one that I know of is 15-1131 for entry level worker.
Saurabh,
My SOC code is 15 -1134.
SOC occupation title is Web Developers.
Man, you gave a such a great hoppe 🙂
Thanks for u r reply Saurabh,
Mine is h1b transfer by PP. SOC is 15-1121 with 100K base salary from non h1b dependent US based employer. what are the chances for approving with new set of rules. I am really worried.
thanks in advance…
H1B Ext,
If you have enough experience and good salary, it should be fine. Your attorney is in a better position to gauge the impact.
I heard form someone that Infosys is filing 15000 H1bs , guys if this is true then I think we should all come together and file a lawsuit against infy .
Why? Everyone has the right to file as many petitions they want. If the USCIS has a problem with them, they can reject the petition.
That’s what idiots like you Understand the law.
H1b visa introduced by USA forr Gud purpose, Encouraging talented among all countries from the world.
It’s not just for India alone or Infosys. Fair chance should be given to All, Equal opportunity to everyone.
But companies like infosys, cap Gemini, TCS exploiting the Current Immigration system.
It’s kind of fraud and visa Abuse.
Sending thousands of Programmers and leaving no chance to the guys who studied in US & working in Silicon start up’s.
How long does it usually take to hear from USCIS? Both to know when they received our application and the outcome.
Candidates and companies who fake experience are worst than rich folks who apply with sc/ st/ obc category in India. Work hard guys, did your parents teach you how to teach??!! I seriously wish bad for your careers if genuine folks who are trying for the last time don’t make it and you get selected in lottery..
Mike,
Once USCIS makes the announcement about the lottery (some say there won’t be one), they would start generating receipts for the selected petitions. In the past, they informed PP petitions before the others; but this year everyone is RP. So it may take 2-3 months for everyone to be informed (I think last year people heard about selection until June). The processing time would vary from case to case as you could be anywhere in that queue of 85K selected petitions, with no PP option available.
Yaaay!! Finally my president Trump is taking decisive action, slowly but surely.. All Indian chop shops will be shown their rightful place in the near future.. And the timing of the CIS announcements are juicy to say the least !
If The trailer of the movie is so interesting, I can’t wait to see how the movie of full fledged immigration reform will be.
If you are an immigrant visa dependent employer, then you should not get to apply any more visas at all, as simple as that. Its hard to believe a whole company cannot find americans to do jobs here, but has only imported labor on their payroll..
*Sings cheerfully*
No matter who you are,
And no matter what you do,
There always will be an Asian
Better than you.
I understand your disappointment in underachieving Americans, but unfortunately for you and your friends there will always be better fit candidates who care just a “little” bit more.
We, immigrants, make America great. We founded this country, and we made it what it is today.
Tell me what Intellectual Property in the Tech field India has garnered in the last 25 years which is world class, and a technological power house.. I sure would like to smoke what you are smoking’
Send code coolies to take up run-of-the-mill IT jobs at cheap rates, that’s all that India is able to do, but the party will be over right soon..
Pray to your Indian Gods which I don’t know are how many in number….
Please do respect others..
And keep in mind that big techies like Microsoft & Google had their CEO’s from India…
Only if u were not racist i would have had a meaningful conversation with you.
The need to fill required skills is the exact problem that US govt has to fix or address. I am an Electrical Engineer- nothing to do with software. I know my company could not find any American citizen with the right skill sets for 6 months and at the end they had to hire a Chinese guy on h1b Visa. But unfortunately he did not get selected in the lottery because all the seats were used up by Indian IT fake consultancies. So that’s why US govt needs to come up with a comprehensive immigration reform which can be changed per need basis. Not just blanket allocation of 65k Visas which can be misused and does not address the real issue of skills shortage in America.
But doesn’t it show that there was a big hole in USA’s H1B program. How hard was it to get this right first time. I dont think the country is so great looking at its H1B “LOTTERY” thing. Only idiots can come up with such lottery.
You are hilarious, dude. All “code coolies” are already sitting in USA, making tech HERE better (that is why we came here, in the first place. Shocker!!)
I will repeat again. USA was build by immigrants, for immigrants. The bottom of the quote from the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Your bigoted opinion is, thus, null and void. I am sorry. Looks like you don’t understand the fundamental values of your own country.
Do you know who are filing most of the patents in most of the big US product companies . Go to TI, intel, qcom .etc and see their wall. You would forget racism and your continuous rant.
@usaPatriot Don’t play with people sentiments by pulling in religion and gods. I have never seen any American doing that. And americans are not known for this. You stretched too far this time. If you have issues with people it’s ok. Debate it but not like this.
I have seen enough Indians cheating here.. The sample size of talent that is good on h1b is too insignificant to even plot on a graph.
Read professor Ron Hira’s studies in numbersusa as to how unbridled immigration has hit us really hard..
The 95% of the jobs taken by H1Bs can be easily filled by americans if companies paid good..
Jeff sessions will fix all these…just bide your time..
@Don’t do this
Please don’t school me on etiquette, if you have the time go through this forum, on how your kindred have become personal at every turn, and used filthy language all the time, when they could not counter anything that I said validly. Some of the posts even stooped to the level of saying “some immigrant banged my momma”.. these posts might have been deleted..
That said, I cannot stoop down to using filthy language. If you have the temerity to taunt us, we will give you back 10 times. You know the Military might of the USofA..
#PeaceThroughStrength #GodBlessAmerica..
We have only one God here, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he will reign supreme #TrumpPence..
@peace
Civility, cogent argument all these are not known to you ? prove me wrong ?
You are a billion and you still think you are all products of immaculate conception.. Yikes.. !!
Yups you were dropped by a stork in your momma’s lap..
I came here to US, to do my Masters searching for a specialization after 3 years of experience back from my country. I did Masters not from an IVY league college, but from a average-reputed university. I was sure on my thoughts . . . Never wanted to go for a desi consultancy fake my resume and work on for something that i dont deserve. (Which would fetch me couple more extra bucks)
Now that i have a Full-time after some hardwork into my job search, my company has opted me on the H1-B list. Even then i not counting on to be selected in the lottery, i read a comment in this same thread about multiple applications 2~3 for one applicant from different desi consultancies. I dont want to judge you, but you are also darkening our hopes of getting an H1-B.
First of all, you get job with fake resumes and ruin one opening for a genuine candidate (Which i don’t care). Next you apply with multiple consultancies for H1-B.(You are not even giving everyone a fair chance) Which is like you want use your reservation/quota like in India.
Just think about this “Everyone comes to US, with a ray of hope – wanting to build their career and fulfill their dreams. ” I’ve known Doctors, PHD’s, Data Scientists, Researchers, Designers from different countries, who have lost hope on H1-B, due to exploitation by all third grade consultancies.
PS: I am not calling for the Desi consultancies to be shut, all i want is people to change their Mindset and look for a Job without faking their resume or Come to US with prior experience – No, one can ever dream of stopping you.
“PS: I am not calling for the Desi consultancies to be shut”
are you kidding me??? they all should be shut down. They are not good for both Americans and immigrants. I know you are very good at heart but we need to step up when given a chance. Use the email that USCIS has given and report all the fake consultancies u know of. I have reported 3 of them. Waiting to see the news of them getting shutdown.
Please report about any known consultancies which are showing fake salary, fake experience in the resume and application to USCIS email ReportH1BAbuse@uscis.dhs.gov,
I know many Indian consultancies show high salary on the papers but they pay 50-60% to the employees. And they show fake experience and fake skill set on the papers.
And each candidate applies 3-4 petitions through these fake consultancies. If we can control this then applications count will not cross 1lac (provided popular Indian consultancies like Infy, tcs , ..etc are not overwhelming the system).
Hi Admin
This is my last time applying for H1B, and my OPT expires at the end of year. I am not putting too much hope into the lottery and try to exploit other options
How difficult is it to obtain O-1 visa as alternative option with phD degree in STEM field and 160k base salary?
It seems awfully difficult to get O-1 based on USCIS website, it’s like you have to be close to a Nobel prize winner to get O-1.
Steve,
A cousin of mine got O1 visa last year when he didn’t get through the lottery. He also did is PhD in STEM and had to show bunch of references and publications to get it done. He was guided by his attorney. So it would be better to discuss the case w/ your attorney and then go from there.
Sure, a Nobel prize would help. But as far as I know there are 8 criteria listed on uscis web site; 3 of which you should successfully meet. I too recommend an attorney for your case. They would guide you much more successfully.
Alternatively.. do you consider academia? That’s a cap exempt institution and as a PhD, why not? You probably wouldn’t dare to dream of $160k if you’re not in business school, and since you’re stem, you’re not in business.. but still scientists and engineers do make close to $100k in academia. That’s an option for you to consider.
Thanks for all the responses.
100k in academia? That seems to be more like scientist in industry. I gave up after seeing 40k/yr offer as a post doc.
I read into the 3 out of 8 criteria part. I did have 3 publications during phD study, but none after graduation.
I went to one of the MBB firm as consultant and now have a job at a large pharma. I assume salary and references not going to be a concern to meet 2 of their requirements, but I am very concerned about the publication part, unsure how many they are looking for. Also, I didn’t have those Nature, Cell papers.
Hi guys. The problem will be only with entry level computer programmers. This is actually a fake news spreading that all computer programmers are banned.
If you have more than 4 years of experience in computer programming then you don’t need to worry. In memorandum it’s only mentioned about entry level computer programmers so keep calm.
What happens if the company files H1 with designation as a Software Developer but the salary paid is that of a entry level computer programmer.
H1BAspirant,
If the employee is being underpaid as per the LCA, then they should report the abuse to USCIS using the new email address.
Saurabh and kumar, I am a genuine 4th timer working for a big bank here in USA. This is my last attempt. Looking at the frenzy, I assume H1B applications would be 2.5 lakh at least. Some people are saying 3 lakhs. I am losing all hope and now ready to leave a country I have lived in since 5 years. Whats your final prediction at this point. 3 lakhs seem likely in spite of Indian outsourcing firms cutting down the numbers.?
Genuine4thTimer,
This year could be “different”. If past trend lines hold good, then the numbers you cited could be reached. There are arguments that support both increase and decrease of the counts. Your guess is as good as mine, but I guess b/w 200k-250k.
At this moment there is nothing much one can do except to wait and hope for the best.
Yes, you are right, it is not about all computer programmers but entry level. But, the policy memorandum does not specifically call out about 4 years of experience. Rather, petitioner must provide other evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation.
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/PM-6002-0142-H-1BComputerRelatedPositionsRecission.pdf
1) USCIS suspended Premium Processing was due to that Trump Admin’s cut-back on federal agencies funding earlier this year so that USCIS doesn’t have sufficient funding to hire additional independent contractors during H-1B season to help with premium processing, which was a common practice in the past.
2) USCIS did not mention lottery in their March notice because they wanted to leave room for Trump Admin to change how to allocate these Visas from the time of notice to April, which apparently did not happen.
do not even hope
This time would be 0% chances for desi, consulting trashy staffing companies.
Only real candidates (who will work for real employers, not “clients”) will pass and get H1
Agree cheaters will get mass denied this time. But this won’t help genuine applicants as the lottery will still be random. They never release the quotes to do a second lottery.
one more filthy idiot supporting some venom. You guys take care of yourself (selfish guys). Don’t worry about others that USCIS will take care off.
You have Stupid Mindset Man, Your talking as if your wishing bad to so many.
May be your from some WITCH Company guy ( Leading Body shoppers) who send cheap labour to US.
This year all are Scrutinized well ; Fraud & Abuse H1 Visa.
INFY one of the leading Body shopper will get a Ban or Fine of abusing the system
Hi Saurabh,
Lets say, A person is holding valid H1B stamped visa(Selected in 2015 H1B lottery) but due to some reason that person could not traveled and his/her visa got expired last year(Oct 2016). Now company again filled an amendment with extension (As earlier it was for another location) in PP (USCIS acknowledged the case on 29th march).
Does this latest news about H1B is going to affect those candidates as well?
Yes, it will affect if the job type is computer programmer. Now stop bugging each and every forum here.
No worry dude . The problem will be only with entry level computer programmers. This is actually a fake news spreading that all computer programmers are banned.
If you have more than 4 years of experience in computer programming then you dont need to worry .
DD,
Yes, the announcements impact all H-1 petitions – cap-subject, cap-exempt, extension, transfer, amendment etc.
If this year as well any desi company files more than 1000 H1bs , I think we should all come together and file class action law suit against these companies .
Thanks a lot Saurabh.
Do you even know what class action law suit means? How is anyone even considering to sponsor for a dimwit like you?
TechM is Genuine company and they have filed same amount of application this year as well. And the success rate is also good apparently.
Visa Applications Pour In by Truckload Before Door Slams Shut…
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/us/tech-visa-applications-h1b.html?_r=0&referer=https://t.co/L1lIXWvvau
Looks like last minute rush…
How are filings for this FY by Indian IT Companies ?
Any update from Infi for filling ?
As per my LCA tracking Infosys has the maximum no of LCA s filed this year among all the IT giants.what else info you need specifically. I don’t think before next Monday any specific data would be revelead.
How you got info about maximum number of LCA ?
@ Shalini
Don’t Float Fake news among H1b Aspirants. @ Shalini (under disguised name)
As per my lot of friends & past colleagues mentioned that big IT Giants are filling less h1b this year. Especially INFY have reduced most of their sponsorship on h1b
Dude , try to learn how to take it with a pinch of salt . You might be working for Infy but the company gives a shit about u . Last year this shitty company filed 32000 h1 and clogged the system so who knows what they are up to this year . I hope she is wrong because if she is not they will surely pay the price this year and you will be at the receiving end as the executives will wash of their hands to save their ass anytime.
Before next Monday, No body can’t say the exact h1b application count, That everybody knows @ Shaini
My Question is how can you say by LCA Tracking the application Count ???
Yes same question. how she know Infi count ?
i doubt She is He or She
You can filter and search by employer by typing the name of the company. That will show the number of LCAs filed till date by that particular employer.
Any news from igate_capgemini_FS on filing. ?
Any mail from CTS on filing.
CTS_CHN
CTS started sending petition mails…
As what ?
Yes, Today we got mail confirmation on filing
@H1B
As petition is send via FedEx with tracking # ********
@Jeet/@CTS_CBE,
Did CTS gave job designation as computer programmer or software engg. Or something else ?
@H1B..
We will come to know about that, only after couple of weeks.
And I am sure it is not “Computer Programmer”.. based on last years petition
@CTS_CBE,
Thanks.
Status changed.
@Capgemini, where are you checking the status which shows Changed?
@CG, Assignmentpro.. Do you also use the same tool ?
Yes. Where is the status showing in Assignmentpro?
Yes. But where does it shows on Assignmentpro?
they mentioned in the portal saying that the status will be changed after 10 days…
in the portal it was mentioned as the status will change after 10th april.
I have a doubt.can an employer X file one LCA for many H1b aspiring candidates.
Like emplyer X said they filed one single LCA for Mr A,Mr B…..Mr Z …is it possible.please correct me ifI am wrong
Shalini,
Yes, one LCA can cover multiple employees provided all the details (location, salary, job category) remain the same.
Thanks Saurabh…But with the LCA case number can I track if the employer X really filed LCA for particularly Mr G .. My mind says the answer will be NO
Shalini,
LCA is not attached to any particular employee. So you cannot determine if the filed LCA is specifically for Mr G.
Anyone in Infi got any news for filing ?
I’m working in EMPLOYER A . Employer B is filing H1b for me this year. Will my application disqualified? since USCIS is said ” Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization’s location”
Your case is different. You can apply via Employer B. The line stated by USCIS denotes that “say your H1B is approved for Employer B. Your H1B will be with Employer B but you will be working for a client project in client place” . The client place is referred as off site.
Doubt,
This doesn’t invalidate off-site employment. So you can still work from client’s location. However, those work arrangement will now be reviewed more closely and prone to site visits.
This is done to harass the clients of consultancies. USCIS said they will show up randomly. I don’t think any company in US that contracts workers to do job on-site will be exited to see USCIS agents showing up and starting to investigate the contractors since that may expose the company to liabilities. Hence when contracting these companies will ask for GC/citizen workers.
Since USCIS and DHS have tightened the H1B process regarding entry level computer programmers and site visits, my question is how will that impact on lottery? Will they shred off those invalid petitions and perform lottery or how will they do it?
There may be no lottery or even if there is one it will matter much less. Obviously the way the admin is trying to deal with this for now (until legislation passes) is to follow within the existing framework of rules and regulations. And they can do plenty but just following the rules that are in place. They will do anything possible to slow down the processing and issuance of visas. Since they explicitly mentioned that benching is illegal, and no reasonable employer will wait for more that 1-2months before someone can start and there is no PP, the only option will be for people that already work in some other classification (like OPT, TN, etc.) to apply.
“Mr. Yates recalled some mishaps, like the time a driver bound for the center in Vermont drove 50 miles unaware that his truck’s back door had swung open, spilling its cargo onto the road.”
This is just tooo much 😀 😀 Cannot get more insane than this !
The Department of Homeland Security intends to review and reconsider a regulation that permits certain spouses of H-1B workers to apply for employment authorization documents (EADs), the agency disclosed in a court filing today. Though the H-4 EAD program remains in place for now, DHS could elect to restrict or terminate it in the future.
Under current rules, H-4 nonimmigrants are eligible to apply for employment authorization if their H-1B spouse (1) has an approved Form I-140 immigrant worker petition; or (2) has received a one-year extension of H-1B status beyond their sixth year based on a filed I-140 or labor certification. The H-4 EAD program was established by the Obama Administration in 2015.
Last year around 12000 “computer programmer” jobs were accepted in lottery. some were paying as less as $49000, that means all in all arond 40000 applications were for “computer programmer” jobs.
USCIS have targeted a low paying job which was being exploited by consultancies the most.
If Google has filed an application for entry level computer programmer will his/her application be rejected? If that is the case then many genuine people will also get screwed.
Although i am completely in favor of Consultancies being scrapped. I my self will tell USCIS about few consultancies i know of.
Google’s average salary last year was $128000.
http://h1bdata.info/topcompanies.php
No doubt Google pays the best salary in the world but i hope USCIS does not treats the rule as the blanket rule and not consider these applications.
#justconcerned
Wages and H-1B Eligibility
The memorandum focuses primarily on computer programmers, and does not restrict other IT positions. However, some of its provisions could affect the adjudication of H-1B petitions filed for entry-level positions in other occupations.
The guidance directs adjudicators to review the offered wage to determine whether it reflects the job duties and the experience, education and skills required to perform the position. According to the guidance, petitions that offer an entry-level wage “will likely contradict a claim that the proffered position is particularly complex, specialized, or unique compared to other positions within the same occupation.” This means that it may be more difficult to demonstrate that a position with an entry-level salary qualifies as a specialty occupation.
USCIS’s memorendum…
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/PM-6002-0142-H-1BComputerRelatedPositionsRecission.pdf
Entry level computer programmer (with low wage) will get into trouble…
Best of luck…
Admin: could you explain the latest release from USCIS,
https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/putting-american-workers-first-uscis-announces-further-measures-detect-h-1b-visa-fraud-and-abuse
They will be stricter in enforcement in the future. That’s what it means.
USCIS would send officers to the workplace address mentioned in H1B petition and verify whether the beneficiary is really working there or not. This happens even now, but occasionally. But now this is going to happen widely mainly for companies who are H1B dependent and those employees who are made to work in client place. This is to prevent misuse of visa.
Divya,
My interpretation is that instead of random site visits, these will be more intelligent site visits. Chances of H-1B fraud at Google is much less than chances of fraud a small consulting company. So they would spend their resources more wisely and target H-1B jobs that are more susceptible to fraud.
In other words, they will be targeting desi consulting companies.
blanani?
Is it necessary to file a LCA before a consultant applies for your H1B? On the LCA site I do not see any LCA filed under my consultants name for FY2017.
Without LCA, no H1B, as simple as it is !
As per this statement “For H-1B and H-1B1, the LCA is valid up to three years after the start date indicated on the LCA or to the end date indicated on the LCA.[12] However, if the employer becomes H-1B-dependent, or a strike, lockout, or work stoppage occurs between the time of LCA filing and the approval of the associated H-1B petition, the LCA ceases to be valid.[3]” if the LCA end date is 2019, then there is no need to file a fresh LCA. Is my understanding correct?
Query,
Let’s say that the original LCA was filed from Sep 2016 to Sep-2019. If you use that LCA for this year’s filing then the corresponding I-129 petition would run from Oct -2017 to Sep-2019.
If the company reuses the LCA, they get H-1B for a year less (yes, extensions can still be applied).
Thanks. That was the answer I was looking for.
Do we still have time to file an LCA and send an application in current year. My current employer wasn’t able to confirm until close of business, Friday last week.
How much time would it take for LCA to be approved. Best case. Appreciate any feedback. SOS
usually < 5 business days
Serious employers, these colsultancies…
Gosh, it’s the day of petitions, and so-called employee doesn’t even know if s/he needs an LCA.
Can some expert, comment on the news article
https://www.axios.com/computer-programmers-may-no-longer-be-eligible-for-h-1b-visas-2342531251.html
Go and read the authentic article from USCIS webasite, it in simple English : https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/putting-american-workers-first-uscis-announces-further-measures-detect-h-1b-visa-fraud-and-abuse
Why do you need a junk/ rumor spreaderer website (like the link shared by you) to interpret it for you?
@jk,
May be “@1st time” is asking the question about https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/PM-6002-0142-H-1BComputerRelatedPositionsRecission.pdf
This is a forum to share knowledge or information. If you have any information you can share it.
Please don’t undermine others. Its always better to use softer tone in discussions.
1st Time,
My interpretation is that instead of Computer Programmer job, the companies will have to use Software Developer etc as job category. This would require a higher pay, maybe more experience as well.
May impact some who had their LCAs and I-129s filed as Computer Programmer.
Hi saurabh, I am from from ibm with BTECH degree and 5yrs exp as Java developer. In our LCA s they proposed job title as application developer but SOC occupation title is computer programmers. Will this new one cause problem? Our proposed package is >80k.
IBM,
It would be better to check w/ your attorney. In any case, it is too late to make any changes now.
Thanks Saurabh for the clarification,
I thought this could be one of the ways, which can avoid lottery and merit may come in picture 🙂 Being too optimistic
But I think, lottery is what is going to happen again
Thanks @Reply
@jk => I read the article multiple times and I had interpretation on the policy document, as I am a 1st timer, I wanted some experts to comment.
Guys,
Please check the latest announcement from USCIS on their site.
“Putting American Workers First: USCIS Announces Further Measures to Detect H-1B Visa Fraud and Abuse”
hahahahaha
Body shoppers were thinking it will be business as usual. Can’t stop laughing after anguishing 4 years.
USCIS intentionally announced it today so that all the h1b petitions are on their way to USCIS. Now they have enough data of all the current fraudster.
Chun chun ke marenge 🙂
thank god, no more WITCH’s here for few years from now!!
Putting American Workers First: USCIS Announces Further Measures to Detect H-1B Visa Fraud and Abuse
https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/putting-american-workers-first-uscis-announces-further-measures-detect-h-1b-visa-fraud-and-abuse