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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.