FY 2020: USCIS announced H-1B Premium Processing Start Dates, Updates, and Changes

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FY 2020 USCIS announced H-1B Premium Processing
Start Dates, Updates, and Changes With less than
a fortnight for April 1st, H-1B is the most
concerned topic of discussion for the employers
filing H-1B. The new regulations and restrictions
in the H-1B process usually add up more
confusion among the beneficiaries and the
petitioners. However, this latest announcement
about H-1B premium processing throws some light
upon the process.
The major highlights of the USCIS announcement
are the start of H-1B cap season, the launch of
new H-1B data hub, premium processing dates and
also a reminder of the changes in the H- 1B
process. Every update or change made in the H-1B
process is in support of Trumps policy Buy
American, Hire American. H-1B Cap Season the
H-1B Premium Processing for the FY 2020 April
1st,2019 This date marks the beginning of H-1B
Cap season and USCIS will accept H-1B petitions
starting from April 1st,2019. Any petition filed
before this date will be rejected. If there is
any discrepancy in the information provided, it
may lead to delay in processing or an RFE. So,
the employers have to follow all the rules and
regulations while filing the petition. Here is
the Optional Checklist for filing Form I-129 H-1B
filings.
H-1B Premium Processing for FY 2020 This Cap
season USCIS has started a two-phase approach for
H-1B premium processing. This update would ease
up the burden on USCIS making it easier for them
to manage the premium processing rather than
suspending it like the previous years. However,
these latest updates on the H-1B premium
processing dates have also created a
commotion. The First phase of H-1B premium
processing will include all the cap-subject
petitions requesting the status change. And the
second phase includes all the remaining
cap-subject petitions.
May 20th,2019 (First phase of H-1B premium
processing) Any petitioner, requesting for a
status change may file for premium processing by
concurrently filing the Form I-907 (Request for
Premium Processing) along with Form I-129
(Petition for Non-Immigrant Worker). Petitioners
must select response b for Item 4 in Part 2 of
Form I-129 to be eligible to concurrently file
Form I-907.
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USCIS will not start processing for these
petitions immediately. However, it will notify
the date of premium processing in the future,
which will be before May 20th, 2019. If any
petitioner requesting for a status change hasnt
filed Form I-907 along with the Form I- 129, he/
she must wait until the premium processing date
is confirmed. USCIS will reject any petition
which is not concurrently filed with the H-1B
petition, but filed before the confirmed premium
processing date.
June, 2019 (Second phase of H-1B premium
processing) USCIS will not start the second
phase of H-1B premium processing for all other
Cap-petitions until June, 2019. All the
petitioners who are not requesting a change of
status don't need to submit Form I-907 with H-1B
petition. They can upgrade their petition to
premium processing once USCIS notifies the
confirmed date for all the other cap-subject
petitions.
New H-1B data Hub As a part of USCISs effort to
promote transparency in H-1B process, it is
making the new H-1B Employer Data Hub available
in uscis.gov from April 1st, 2019. This hub
includes information about the employers who are
filing H-1B petitions. This data will be
available for the public, which will be helpful
in calculating the approval rate and denial rate.
New selection process for H-1B DHS has proposed
a new rule for the selection of the H-1B
petitions. This new regulation reverses the
order in which H-1B petitions are selected. The
new H-1B process mandated a lottery on the
regular cap prior to the cap exempt. 65,000
petitions are selected from the first lottery.
This lottery includes both the regular cap
petitions along with the cap exempt petitions.
The petitions selected in the process are sent
for further processing. All the unselected
petitions are returned to the employers or
attorneys along with the fees. Now, the cap
exempt lottery is conducted for the unselected
exempt petitions. This minor change in the
process increases the chances of selection for
the Cap exempt petitions, which will be an
advantage for all the beneficiaries with a
Masters Degree from US university.
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Even with all these updates in the process,
experts forecast H-1B to be high in demand for
the coming fiscal year. What do you think of it?