Confusion over Two Receipts Issued in Some H1B Cases
Posted Apr 20, 2007
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The USCIS announced on April 16, 2007, that some of the regular H1B cases subject to the cap will be issued two receipt notices. The reason for this is that the USCIS issued receipts for some (but not all) cap-subject cases filed on April 2nd and 3rd. They changed the procedure before they issued receipts for all cases. Under the new procedure, the USCIS stopped issuing preliminary receipt notices once they realized that the H1B cap had been met on the first business day these cases were accepted, namely, Monday, April 2, 2007.
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The USCIS conducted a random, computer-generated lottery on April 12, 2007 to select the H1B cases that would receive the limited cap numbers. More information on the lottery can be found in our April 20, 2007 article, H1B Cap Cases Lottery Update Post April 12, 2007, available on MurthyDotCom. Each of the cases selected for this year's cap under the random, computer-generated lottery system will receive a receipt. Therefore, all of the initial, preliminary receipts were voided and only those H1B petitions that were selected in the random, computer lottery were issued new receipts on or after April 12, 2007.
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Receipts issued prior to April 12, 2007, must be disregarded. Only a receipt issued after the April 12th selection process serves as a valid indication that a case was selected within the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 cap. If a pre-April 12th receipt was issued, it is possible that the USCIS will provide a second receipt, if the filing was selected under the lottery system for processing on April 12th. It is also possible that, even though a preliminary receipt was issued, the case may not have been accepted for processing as a result of the computer-generated lottery drawing. In such an instance, the case will be rejected and should be returned to the petitioning employer or employer's representative in the upcoming weeks.