USCIS Issues Regulation on 20,000 Additional H1Bs
Posted May 06, 2005
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The long-awaited regulation on the 20,000 H1B cap exemptions created by the H1B Reform Act of 2004 was published in the Federal Register on May 5, 2005. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy obtained an advance copy of the interim rule and provided a detailed analysis of its provisions for MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers in our May 3, 2005 NewsFlash, 20,000 Additional H1B Filings Effective from May 12, 2005.
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The key provisions of the regulation include confirmation that the 20,000 exemptions will be available each fiscal year (FY), not just in FY2005. Thus, this will be potentially helpful in extending the availability of cap numbers to a later date in FY2006.
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These additional H1B cases can be filed starting May 12, 2005 for persons with U.S. masters' degrees or above. They are limited to individuals with the required degree, which is consistent with the wording of the H1B Visa Reform Act of 2005. There previously had been some indication that the USCIS was considering making these cap exemptions available to any person eligible for an H1B filing under the quota for FY2005.
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Also noteworthy is the ability now to convert a pending or approved FY2006 case to one that requests one of the 20,000 numbers (and an earlier start date).
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All of the cases requesting the 20,000 cap exemptions for FY2005 are to be filed with the Vermont Service Center, at a special address. The address provided as the only acceptable filing location for the FY2005 requests for one of the 20,000 new exemptions is:

USCIS Vermont Service Center
1A Lemnah Drive
St. Albans, Vermont  05479-7001

With the exception of the 20,000 FY2005 H1B cases, all H1B cases must be filed at the proper service centers for the particular jurisdiction in which the person will work.
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It will be interesting to see how long it will take for these new 20,000 H1B exemptions to all be used. At The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C., we will be watching this closely and updating MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers as more information becomes available.