USCIS and DOL on H1Bs Posted May 20, 2005 ©MurthyDotCom The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) each provided useful clarifications in mid-May 2005 that affect the H1B process. ©MurthyDotCom USCIS on RFE Reponses for H1B Upgrade Cases ©MurthyDotCom As reported in this week's MurthyBulletin (see article #2 entitled, USCIS Service Center Operations on H1Bs under FY2005 / 2006 Quotas), it is now possible to request an upgrade of an H1B case filed with a Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 start date (October 1, 2005 or after) to an H1B with an immediate, FY2005 start date if the beneficiary has a U.S. master's degree or higher. All of these upgrade requests must be filed with the Vermont Service Center (VSC) at an address explicitly for this purpose. This has prompted questions regarding where to send Request for Evidence (RFE) responses in these cases. ©MurthyDotCom USCIS has indicated that an employer who filed an H1B petition with an FY2006 start date and received an RFE on the case must send the response to the Service Center that issued the RFE. This is true even if the employer is now requesting an upgrade to an FY2005 start date for that case through the Vermont Service Center (VSC). For example, if an H1B petition was filed at the Texas Service Center (TSC) for an October 1, 2005 start date, and the TSC issues an RFE, the employer must send the RFE response to the TSC. This procedure must be followed even if the employer also has made an upgrade request to the special VSC upgrade address. The notice did not specifically address which address to use if the case was filed at VSC originally. It would seem, however, that the safest approach would be to respond to the address on the bottom of the RFE, which will probably be the standard VSC address at 75 Lower Welden Street, not the special one for upgrades. ©MurthyDotCom DOL on Proof of Labor Certification Filing for One-Year Incremental Extensions ©MurthyDotCom The DOL has indicated that the Backlog Processing Centers (BPCs) are working to respond to requests for acknowledgement that a labor certification was filed for persons who need this document to file for H1B extensions beyond the six-year limit. The DOL has directed that requests be faxed or mailed to the appropriate BPC. They caution requestors not to both fax and mail the request, since this duplication creates backlogs in the request system and causes delays for all requestors. It is not clear whether faxing or mailing is faster at the Dallas, TX BPC, but immigration attorneys have reported that Philadelphia, PA generally processes mailed requests faster than faxed requests. ©MurthyDotCom We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy would like to thank the USCIS for these important procedural clarifications, as well as the DOL for providing the necessary acknowledgement for those who wish to extend their H1B status beyond the six-year limit and need documentary evidence to do so. © 2005 The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. All Rights Reserved
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