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Ice on Immigration: The H-1B visa program

By L. Patricia Ice, Featured Columnist

Question: My employer recently filed a new I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker on my behalf for H-1B visa status to commence on October 1, 2007. I heard that more than 120,000 new petitions were filed for only 65,000 new H-1B spots available. What will happen to my application?

Answer: Due to the high volume of I-129 H-1B Petitions filed, the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) decided to conduct a computer-generated random selection drawing for petitions received on April 2 and April 3, 2007. That process was held on April 12, 2007. The USCIS-labeled petitions with a unique number and numbers were randomly selected by computer. Those numbers were then sent to the appropriate USCIS service center to be matched with the corresponding petition. The petitioners of those cases selected for adjudication will be sent a receipt notice. The filing fees will be returned to those petitioners whose cases were not selected. For cases submitted pursuant to the optional premium processing program, which requires an additional $1000 fee, the 15-day processing period began on April 12. All other selected cases will take at least four or more weeks to process from April 12.

Many United States businesses use the H-1B visa program to employ international workers in occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields often requiring a minimum of a bachelors degree. The H-1B program requires employers to meet specific labor conditions to ensure that citizen workers are not adversely impacted by the employment of international workers.

 

L. Patricia Ice

Featured IMDiversity Immigration Columnist L. Patricia Ice is an attorney and counselor who has taught immigration law at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, and also contributes regular immigration advice stories to La Noticia and The Jackson Advocate.  A practicing attorney, Ms. Ice is a former Equal Justice Works Katrina Legal Fellow, focusing on immigrant family and employment issues in areas around the Gulf Coast.  Ms. Ice trains law students in the extern program of the Mississippi College School of law. She is also dedicated to immigrants rights advocacy, and serves as the Director of the Legal Project  of the non-profit rights education group, MIRA: The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance at www.yourmira.org.

Articles in this column are Copyright 2006-2009 L. Patricia Ice.  All rights reserved.  Please do not reproduce further without seeking the permission of the author.

IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view. However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at IMD.