USCIS just announced a correction on their part where they rejected certain H1-B petitions last year. They are now willing to accept those H1-B petitions that were rejected simply because their requested start date was after October 1, 2020. USCIS admits that, “upon reconsideration, we no longer believe that the regulations required us to reject or administratively close those petitions.”
According to the statement issued by 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. These petitions would have based on a registration submitted during the initial registration period, but the requested start date was after Oct. 1, 2020.
Every year there are 85,000 H1-B non-immigrant visas allocated. Off these, 20,000 are reserved for those applicants who have an advanced degree from a US college or university.
Ironically, data for all non-immigrant petitions released by the agency last year indicated that for fiscal year 2021, the total number of petitions filed during the initial filing period was below the total quota required to reach the numerical allocations.
As a result, in August 2020, they had to conduct a second H1-B lottery to select more petitions to meet the annual quota. The filing period for registrations selected in August ended on November 16, 2020.
How To Resubmit Your H1-B Petition If You Were Rejected Last Year
All those petitions that were rejected, may be resubmitted by October 1, 2021.
Activate your USCIS online account.
Electronically register the details of the beneficiary including
- Official name of the sponsoring company
- Address of the sponsoring company
- Employer identification Number
- Official name (as it appears on the passport) of the H1-B beneficiary
- Gender & date of birth of the H1-B beneficiary
- Country of birth & citizenship
- Passport number (H1-Bbeneficiary has to have a valid passport prior to being sponsored)
- Eligibility for US Masters H1-B Quota
After registration, make the non-refundable $10 fees payable to USCIS
Since the previous petition was rejected, all the filing fees would have been refunded back. At the time of resubmission, the employer will have to file with all applicable filing fees.
If properly resubmitted, USCIS will consider the petition to have been filed on the original receipt date.
