This is the last week that U.S. employers may submit an H-1B petition for a foreign worker to work for them in specialty occupation positions. H-1B applicants must compete for the limited pool of 65,000 visa numbers, plus 20,000 for U.S. advanced degree holders. If the number of H-1B petitions exceeds the upper limit of the visa cap, USCIS will use a computerized random selection process (visa lottery) to select cases for further processing. This year, the number of H-1B applications are expected to be exceptionally high due to the record-low unemployment rates. Hence, a visa lottery will most likely be used by USCIS to decide which cases to accept and which ones to reject. It will take at least several weeks or longer before applicants may find out the result of the lottery.
Even after an H-1B petition was selected in the visa lottery, the applicant must still wait for the USCIS to review and make a decision on the application, which can take on average several months. Fortunately, for those who don't want to wait, they may request to use premium processing services to get a decision in two weeks. USCIS announced that starting May 20, 2019, the agency will resume premium processing services for FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting for a change of status. If an applicant has not made a request for premium processing yet, they may do so on May 20. This applies for H-1B applicants who are present in the U.S. in a legal status (e.g., F-1) and who have requested to change their status to H-1B within the U.S.
For other type of cases, premium processing will not be available until at least June 2019, according to USCIS. Usually this refers to applicants who plan to apply for an H-1B visa at an overseas American Consulate office (e.g., Shanghai, London, Mumbai, Chennai, etc.) in September before entering the U.S. to begin H-1B employment. Applicants who request for change of status are given preference because some of them will need to rely on the special "cap-gap" extension rules to continue staying or working in the United States legally during the summer.
It is important to note that using premium processing services does not increase the chances for approval; it only guarantees that a decision will be made with 15 days. The decision could be a request for further evidence or even a denial.
Furthermore, USCIS has also launched an online H-1B Employer Data Hub. The data hub contains information on employers petitioning for H-1B workers since FY 2009. The purpose for the data hub is to increase transparency in employment-based visa programs. Employer information such as NAICS code, employer name, city, state, and ZIP code will be available. The public will also be able to obtain statistics such as number of approvals and denials for a particular employer during a given year, etc.
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