01/06/09
USCIS Announces a New H1B Lottery Rule & Prohibits Duplicate Filings
After April 1st, once USCIS has been determined that the 65,000 H-1B quota has been reached, it will announce a "final receipt date." Unlike last year, if the "final receipt date" occurs between April 1 and April 7th, then the random selection (lottery) will include all of the H-1B petitions received during those five business days.USCIS also announced that it will deny or revoke multiple H-1B petitions filed by the same employer for the same employee. USCIS further states: "the rule does not prevent related employers (such as a parent company and its subsidiary) from filing petitions on behalf of the same alien for different positions, based on legitimate business need."
Some employers and some employees are exempt from the H-1B cap, so may file H-1B petitions anytime.
Other employees have an alternative to the H-1B visa .
People who earned a Master's degree or higher from an U.S. college or university have a separate 20,000 quota, which may fill later or not at all. Last year, the Master's degree quota filled on April 30th.