Business Immigration in a Minute by Honigman LLP

• United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it has reached the 65,000 limit for the H-1B visa regular cap petitions and the 20,000 limit for the H-1B visa master’s cap petitions for FY2021 (10/1/2020 to 9/30/2021). This means that USCIS will no longer accept H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY2021. However, USCIS will continue to accept and process H-1B cap-exempt petitions.
• On May 14, 2021, USCIS will delete all E-Verify records that are dated on or before December 31, 2010. Employers have until May 14, 2021 to download case information from the Historic Records Report if they want to retain information about these cases. For information on how to download Historic Records Reports, please see the USCIS fact sheet and instructions for downloading.
• This week, USCIS will hold two webinars on the process of submitting registrations during the FY2022 H-1B electronic registration period beginning on March 9, 2021. The webinar for attorneys and representatives will be on February 23, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:30 PM EST. The webinar for H-1B petitioners will be on February 24, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:30 PM EST. To register for the webinars, please visit the USCIS public engagement page.
• The USCIS Ombudsman recently posted an update regarding recent requests for case assistance and USCIS’ responses to these inquires, including receipt delays, re-scheduling of Application Support Center (“ASC”) appointments, and processing delays related to Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”). For information on eligibility to submit a request for case assistance with the Ombudsman, please review the full USCIS Ombudsman update.
• USCIS announced that it continues to experience delays at certain lockbox facilities in issuing receipt notices for Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, relating to Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) for F-1 students. As a reminder, these delays will not affect the received date of the applications. Also, if an F-1 student timely filed Form I-765 based on STEM OPT and his or her post-completion OPT period expires while the application is pending, USCIS will automatically extend the employment authorization for 180 days.

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