INS Continues Processing H1B Petitions
Posted Dec 27, 1999

Our office has been receiving a number of calls and emails from many of you, expressing concern and requesting clarifications regarding the rumors that the H-1B cap will be hit in the near future. As many of you know, the allocation of H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2000, which runs from October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000, is a total of 115,000. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy hopes and believes that these are rumors and the INS has confirmed this recently.

According to an early December 1999 release from the INS, Gary Bradford of the INS Immigration Services Division, stated: "We are not in danger of running out of H-1Bs in the immediate future." This statement was made during an interview with the INS and representatives of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) in which questions were raised about the rumors pertaining to the H1B cap being hit before the end of December 1999.

In the recent Newsflash of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. entitled "INS Clarification on the H1B Rumor Mill," we reported that the INS announced that they had ordered the four Service Centers to temporarily halt processing H1B Petitions for cases subject to the H1B cap and which had been filed after October 25, 1999. INS has now indicated that the temporary halt had nothing to do with the H1B cap but was merely an effort on their part to bring about a uniform processing time at all the Service Centers.

On December 15, 1999, INS announced that it has re-commenced adjudication of H1B Petitions subject to the cap. However, they have warned that they may impose similar orders, from time to time, to the Service Centers in the future. They estimate that the next pause will likely occur in the near future, in fact, possibly soon after the Christmas holidays!

This latest news should give you comfort and confirmation of INS statements that the H1B cap is not likely to be reached in the immediate future. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. will continue to promptly post updates on our website at www.murthy.com as we continue to seek out and obtain additional information.