May 2013

Update on Receipt Notices for FY2014 H-1B Cap Cases

USCIS Service Center Operations indicated on a May 15, 2013 call with AILA that as of Friday, May 10th all data entry was completed and receipt notices have been sent. Rejection notices have also started to be sent out. Please allow until the end of May for delivery of receipt/rejection notices.

Employers Must Use Revised Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification

USCIS will no longer accept previous versions of Form I-9. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds employers that beginning today, May 7, 2013, they must use the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Revision03/08/13)N for all new hires and reverifications. All employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired to work in the United States.

The revision date of the new Form I-9 is printed on the lower left corner of the form. Employers should not complete a new Form I-9 for existing employees, however, if a properly completed Form I-9 is already on file.

A Spanish version of Form I-9 (revision 03/08/13)N is available on the USCIS website for use in Puerto Rico only. Spanish-speaking employers and employees in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories may use the Spanish version for reference, but must complete and retain the English version of the form.

The revised forms are available online at www.uscis.gov/I-9. For more information, please call 888-464-4218. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. USCIS maintains a website, I-9 Central, to support Form I-9 users. USCIS has also scheduled free webinars to help employers learn about the new form.

To order forms, call USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676. For free downloadable forms and information on USCIS programs, immigration laws, regulations, and procedures, please visit www.uscis.gov.

April 2013

New I-94 Process Effective 4/30/2013

On April 30, 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will no longer require international non-immigrant visitors to fill out a paper I-94 upon arrival to the U.S. by air or sea. CBP will gather the traveler’s information automatically from their electronic travel records. CBP will annotate the passport or other travel document with the non-immigrant status information and expiration date.

CBP will, however, still issue paper I-94s to individuals entering through a land border.

If travelers entering by air or sea need information from their Form I-94 to verify immigration status or employment authorization, they will need to access the CBP site and print out an I-94 record. The record will be available at: CBP.gov/I-94.

H-1B 2014 Cap Case Update

According to information released from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today, USCIS received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the first week of the H-1B filing period. On April 7, 2013, USCIS used a computer generated random selection process to select 65,000 petitions for the general category and 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first, and all advanced degree petitions not selected were then part of the random selection process for the regular cap. For cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, USCIS will reject and return the petition with the filing fees, unless it is found to be a duplicate filing.

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