NewsFlash! USCIS Instructs Not to File New H1B Cases Yet!
Posted Mar 04, 2005

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued a press release on Friday, March 4, 2005, instructing employers NOT to file H1B cases yet under the new cap exemption created under the H1B Visa Reform Act of 2004. This Act, which was part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005, created an additional 20,000 H1B cap exemptions for people with U.S. masters' or higher degrees.

The March 4th press release instructs that these H1B cases are not to be filed until the issuance of instructions in the Federal Register, and that the effective date of the law is March 9, 2005. The USCIS indicates that they are preparing guidance for filing these H1B cases, but that no cases will be accepted by the USCIS until the guidance is issued. Any premature filings will be rejected.

Based upon prior indications, the guidance may instruct that the filings all be made to the Vermont Service Center. However, this should not be assumed until there is official word on the topic.

It is interesting to note that the press release refers to the effective date of the law as March 9, 2005. The previous guidance used March 8, 2005 as the effective date; this is consistent with the wording of the law, signed on December 8, 2004, which states that the provisions will be effective 90 days after enactment.

We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will post updates for our readers on MurthyDotCom. MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers should check the main page of our WebSite for any developments on the regulations that are expected to be published in the Federal Register early next week.