A final reminder to employers – the filing period for “new” H-1B petitions to be counted against the annual H-1B quota (the “H-1B cap”) for Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) begins on April 1, 2010. Since H-1B petition preparation commonly takes a minimum of one to two weeks, primarily due to processing times for the required Labor Condition Application (LCA), employers must act right away to begin preparing petitions for current and future employees who will need H-1B visa status to be legally employed. Individuals currently employed as F-1 students or J-1 trainees, individuals seeking to change to H-1B from another work status (such as L-1, TN or E-3) and individuals outside of the United States commonly require new, cap-subject H-1Bs. Immigration attorneys nationwide are preparing to send H-1B petitions on March 31 to ensure receipt at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices on April 1. April 1 is the initial filing date for petitions seeking H-1B status with an effective date of October 1, 2010. (See the February 2, 2010 issue of the Immigration eAuthority and the most recent USCIS press release for more information on the upcoming H-1B filing period.)
