H-1B visa update: US agency allows some foreign guest workers to re-submit their applications

Washington: A federal US body announced on Wednesday (June 23, 2021) that it will allow re-submission of H-1B visa applications, the most sought-after non-immigrant visa among Indian IT professionals, for some foreign guest workers.

The H-1B visa allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), such re-submission of applications is for those whose applications have been rejected or administratively closed solely because the requested start date was after October 1, 2020.

“If your FY 2021 petition was rejected or administratively closed solely because your petition was based on a registration submitted during the initial registration period, but you requested a start date after Oct. 1, 2020, you may re-submit that previously filed petition, with all applicable fees,” USCIS said.

“Such petitions must be re-submitted before October 1, 2021. If properly resubmitted, we will consider the petition to have been filed on the original receipt date,” USCIS said.

Earlier, in 2020, US Citizenship and Immigration Services started an electronic registration process for the H-1B cap. Prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions must first electronically register and pay the USD 10 H-1B registration fee for each beneficiary.

“The electronic registration process has streamlined processing by reducing paperwork and data exchange and provided overall cost savings to employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions,” it said.

As per the USCIS data, the number of petitions filed during the initial filing period was below the number projected as needed to reach the numerical allocations for fiscal 2021. The federal US Agency stated that discrepancies were due to the economic, political, and public health uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Therefore, in August 2020, we selected additional registrations that were held in reserve. The filing period for registrations selected in August ended on November 16, 2020,” it said.

“Some petitioners indicated a start date after October 1, 2020. We rejected or administratively closed those petitions because they were based on registrations submitted during the initial registration period but indicated a start date after October 1, 2020. Upon reconsideration, we no longer believe that the regulations required us to reject or administratively close those petitions,” USCIS said.

(With Agency inputs)