News Update - May 9, 2009
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
H-1B Cap Count Prediction and New H-1B Fraud Detection Techniques
Being Implemented
On May 4, 2009, U.S.C.I.S. released an H-1B cap number count of
approximately 65,000 overall petitions received. These figures were
apparently from applications received through April 27, 2009. The
approximate total of available H-1B cap numbers is 85,000. H-1B
season is therefore still open (See our article, "Open Season
for New H-1Bs" in the Immigration
Daily, 4/14/09). From the slow filling out of the quota, H-1B
cap numbers may still be with us for anyone to make application
for at least another month. The slowdown will be further exacerbated
by the mandatory use of Labor Department's new ETA 9035 as of May
15, 2009, which involves more scrutiny and longer review period
(up to seven days). H-1B petitions require an approved labor condition
application (LCA) on form ETA 9035 as a precondition to filing,
and the LCA review period has traditionally been none as most LCA's
are approved instantaneously upon electronic filing.
In other H-1B news, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
recently said in testimony before a congressional committee that
DHS is increasing H-1B enforcement and has added fraud prevention
techniques that were not used previously in the H-1B program. These
measures include work site visits. U.S.C.I.S., a component of the
DHS, had published a report that one in five H-1B petitions involved
fraud or technical violations.
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