- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed its Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 H-1B visa lottery and mailed out receipt notices for the petitions accepted for processing under the H-1B visa cap. Petitioners that have not received H-1B petition receipt notices for the filings under the cap by the current date should check on the status of their petition filing fee checks and, if these checks have not been cashed by the government, remain on the lookout for the rejection notices and their H-1B petitions return. It is now time to consider H-1B status alternatives and plan further immigration proceedings for individuals whose petitions were not selected under this year’s lottery.
- The government provided interim guidance for the student beneficiaries of the “capped” H-1B petitions who have not received either a receipt or a rejection notice to date. Students may continue to benefit from an automatic cap-gap extension of stay until a rejection notice is received. Once the rejection notice arrives, the student’s usual regulatory 60-day grace period starts as of the rejection notice or the student’s program end date, whichever is later.
- USCIS issued special instructions to B-1/B-2 visitors that wish to enroll in U.S. schools. Importantly, B visitors need to apply for and obtain F-1 student status (for academic studies) or M-1 status (for vocational studies) via a change of status application filing since studying while in B status may lead to the violation of status finding and future ineligibility to obtain educational and/or other visas. Students-to-be should file their Change of Status applications in order to secure the appropriate student status approval. If the foreign national’s B (visitor) status is set to expire more than 30 days prior to the F or M program start, a separate application to request a B-1/B-2 status extension is required in order to properly maintain the visitor status until the educational program start date. Consult with immigration counsel if you are considering enrollment into U.S. educational institutions while visiting in B status.