At last some news on the FY-2015 employers petitions, a staggering 51% H-1B petitions were rejected and employers will be receiving a brown envelope with the bad news, expected to be sent in early June which is this week.

The press release by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Washington DC confirmed that on the 7th April 2014, they received an overwhelming number of H1B petitions to cover the quota of 65,000 visas for fiscal year (FY) 2015.

The USCIS confirms that the actual number of applications maybe in the 172,500 circa, a 165% over subscription. The FY-2015 is a record number of applications, not seen since 2001 where it hit 163,600 petitions.

It maybe depressing to learn, that your future was in the hands of a computer-generated random selector at USCIS. On the 10th April 2014 the sweepstake decided the imminent future of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 for the advance degree exemption applicants.

So, for those of you that were not randomly selected, the USCIS will send you a rejection letter enclosing your petition and fees, unless a duplicate was matched. Think of how much the postage and administration costs would be for 107,500 applicants to the department?

The Clear Advantaged 20,000 Advanced Degree Exemption
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It is interesting to note that USCIS paid due tribute in their selection process for the advanced degree exemption that were not selected in the lottery, these applicants were then automatically placed in the 65,000 general category quota.

Despite being overloaded with work, the USCIS will continue to process applications petitions to extend only current H-1B holders that would like to remain in the US, terms of employment changes, even an employer change, or wishing to hold another position.

Also, the USCIS will continue to support US businesses that use the H1-B program to employ personnel in sciences, engineering and computer programming that are regarded as highly specialized. Therefore, the fortunate aliens selected on the 10th April will auspiciously start work on the 1st of October 2014.

The Formula 1 Processing Charge of $1,225 fee

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In 2014, the USCIS started their processing on the 28th April instead of 1st of April, there is also a 15 day processing time service at a hefty $1,225 fee for only certain employment-based petitions. So, beginning next week would be a good time for employers to review their alternatives whilst waiting for that inevitable brown envelope.

We quote Mr Jim Hacking, a specialist Immigration and Employment Attorney in St Louis, Missouri said “It’s really a silly system, the Cap itself is ridiculous. We’ve spent a lot of time on other videos talking about the foolishness of the Cap how employers are not being able to get the workers that they need to build their business, to expand their business, to develop expertise in their area of study.”

Mr Jim Hacking also further quoted “There’s obviously a lot of consternation and concern on the part of employers and their immigration attorneys and most importantly by the foreign employees who want to be able to stay in the United States and everyone was left scratching their head as to what are we going to do?