OMB's Review of Fees, RFEs, and H1Bs Posted Nov 19, 2004 ©MurthyDotCom The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of several USCIS proposed rules on November 12, 2004. The descriptions provided by OMB are brief and fairly cryptic. Therefore, the precise content of these proposed rules is largely speculative. The proposed rules include both an adjustment to the appeal and motion fees and a removal of the standardized request for evidence (RFE) processing timeframe. The purpose of the proposed change in the fees is to recover full costs. The "RFE processing timeframe" presumably refers to the response time permitted for RFEs, but this is not entirely clear. ©MurthyDotCom The OMB also completed its review of the USCIS's Notice regarding the H1B number limit for fiscal year 2005. This does not relate to any changes in the cap numbers, as any such increase or change would require that legislation be passed by Congress and signed by the President. The Notice may relate to relief for F-1/J-1 students with a "gap" in status prior to the next fiscal year. ©MurthyDotCom From the information currently available, it appears the OMB has recommended a change to the proposed RFE rule, but approved the others with no changes. Since the nature of the proposed rules is unknown, no one should panic or read too much into this development. We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. will advise MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers when the proposed rules and notice are published and available for review and analysis. ©MurthyDotCom Since the adjustment of appeal and motion fees and the adjustment of RFE processing are both proposed rules, they will not be implemented upon publication in the Federal Register. A comment period will be given to the public. Based on the comments, USCIS will have to consider whether anything in the proposed rules should be altered. Then a final rule or interim final rule will have to be sent to the OMB for approval. The H1B notice, however, will be effective from the date indicated in the Federal Register once the rule is published. © 2004 The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. All Rights Reserved
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