NEW LAW CHANGES H-1B PROGRAM
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President Bill Clinton signed into law on October 17, 2000, the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21). This new law establishes a new annual limit on the number of applicants who can receive H-1B status in the United States. The AC21 has established a new limit of 195,000 visas for 2001, 2002, and 2003.
The AC21 provides for exemptions to the H-1B cap. This cap does not apply to foreign workers who have received offers of employment from institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations or government research organizations. The AC21 has increased the training fee for H-1B petitioners from $500 to $1,000. This increase in fees takes effect on or after December 17, 2000. A petition must be filed by Friday, December 15, to avoid the training fee increase. To be considered filed, the petition must be received by the Texas Service Center on or before December 15, 2000. The AC21 provides for exemptions to the payment of this increased filing fees. This training fee does not apply to institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, governmental research organizations, employers who are filing for a second extension of stay for an H-1B nonimmigrant, primary or secondary education institutions and nonprofit organizations engaged in established curriculum-related clinical training of students. Aside from the training fee indicated above, the H-1B petitioner must also include the filing fee of $110 with the I-129 petition. One important change to the H-1B program is that the AC21 provides for extensions to H-1B status in one-year increments to H-1B applicants who have an employment-based immigrant visa petition or application for adjustment of status pending for more than 365 days. This requirement is satisfied if 365 days have passed since the filing of the labor certification or immigrant visa petition. INS has indicated that it will be unlikely that the regulations implementing AC21 will be published before March, 2001. |
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