Please click here to review the USCIS' Question & Answer on its newly announced OPT extension program.

Cap is Reached as of April 8, 2008; New Regulation Addressing Cap-Gap for H-1B Lottery Winners whose Practical Training runs out before October 1, 2008 and Permitting 17-Month Extension of Optional Practical Training for Certain Foreign Students

·         H-1B Cap News

Today the USCIS announced that it received enough H-1B petitions to meet the FY 2009 65,000 cap and the 20,000 additional visas for holders of U.S. advanced degrees.  As we have advised previously, the Service confirmed that it will first perform data entry, and eliminate duplicate filings, and then conduct the random selection process. The Service will place those eligible petitions not selected for the 20,000 advanced degree exemption limit into the lottery for the 65,000 visas.  We do not anticipate receiving notifications from the Service for at least another 3 weeks.

Partner Kirsten Schlenger spoke at our first seminar in April on Compliance Across Industries in 2008 and being Prepared for Audits.

H-1B Update
As we have anticipated, the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has effectively prohibited the filing of duplicate or multiple FY2009 H-1B petitions by a single employer for the same H-1B worker.  The USCIS today announced that such filings will be denied or revoked, and that the related filing fees will not be refunded.  The USCIS has issued Frequently Asked Questions on the subject, which can be accessed here: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/H-1B_multi_filingFAQ_19Mar08.pdf.