Want to apply for H-1B visa to US? Window opening soon: Top 10 developments

Petitions for H1-B visas for financial year 2019 will be accepted from April 2; premium processing for all H-1B petitions, subject to annual caps, stands suspended

Wish to live the American dream, especially as an information technology (IT) professional looking to work in the land of promise? Take note: Petitions for H1-B visas for financial year 2019 will be accepted from April 2, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday. Further, the USCIS announced that premium processing for all H-1B petitions, subject to annual caps, stands suspended.

The USCIS has said that the temporary suspension of H-1B premium processing would help reduce the overall H-1B visa processing time. The H-1B petition filing is for fiscal 2019, which begins from October 1, 2018.

The H-1B filing season comes after the Donald Trump administration earlier this months delayed its decision on terminating work authorisation for the spouses of H-1B visa holders until June. The move came as a big relief to a significantly large number of Indian workers and their families. American lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to not repeal work permits for the spouses H-1B visa holders.

The announcement also comes amid the heated and ongoing political debate in the US over immigration policy and reforms, with the Trump administration looking to ensure that the H-1B visa programme is not 'abused'. Ahead of the filing season for work visa, popular among Indian IT professionals, beginning in April, anti-H1B posters have come up at local metro stations and commuter trains in San Francisco and California.

The H1B visa, a non-immigrant visa, allows American companies to employ foreign workers for specialty occupations requiring technical or theoretical expertise. Technology companies, especially IT firms, depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year, particularly from countries like India.

As an H-1B non-immigrant, an applicant might be admitted for a period of up to three years. The time period might be extended, but generally it cannot go beyond a total of six years. However, there are some exceptions. According to the USCIS, between 2007 and 2017, the highest number of H-1B petitions it received was 2.2 million, from high-skilled Indians. India was followed by China with 301,000 H-1B petitions during the same period.

Here are the top 10 developments around H-1B visa applications:

1) H-1B visa application to begin from April 2: Petitions for H1-B visas for the fiscal year 2019 beginning October 1, 2018, will be accepted from April 2, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today. "We will begin accepting H-1B petitions, subject to the FY 2019 cap, on April 2, 2018.

You may file an H-1B petition no more than six months before the employment start date requested for the beneficiary," the uscis.gov site said.

2) H-1B cap petition premium processing suspended until September: The USCIS further announced suspension of premium processing for all H-1B petitions, which are subject to the annual caps. According to the federal agency, the suspension of premium processing for all H-1B visa petitions that are subject to annual caps is expected to last until September 10, 2018.

Click here: H-1B Visa

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