H1B visa petitions to be accepted till April 7

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services would accept petitions for the H-1B work visas on the first five working days beginning April 1.

However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facilitation centers would accept H-1B visa petitions if it does not receive adequate number of applications to meet its annual Congressional-mandated cap of 65,000.

"We will continue to accept the petition, if we do not have the right number to meet the cap, after the first five business days from April 1 to April 7," USCIS spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan told PTI.

The USCIS last week had announced changes in the application form related to H-1B visa, in view of the restrictions imposed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which prohibits hiring of people with H-1B visas by companies receiving federal aid money.

The USCIS asserted that this would not result in procession of the application. "We are committed to ensure to all the employers, to all those who submit the petition to clear as expeditiously as possible, and give them feed back weather the petition has been approved or not," Rhatigan said.

Under the new provisions, each applicant needs to receive an attestation from Department of Labor with regard to the federal money being received by them and if vacancy is not being filled at a place because an American was fired earlier.

USCIS said numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2010 is 65,000. Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of aliens who have earned a US masters' degree or higher are exempt from this cap.

However, petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at institutions of higher education or a related or affiliated nonprofit entities, or at nonprofit research organisations or governmental research organisations, USCIS said.