Immigration Attorney
Services & Fees

May 3, 2005

The USCIS indicated on May 2, 2005, that it will publish a rule in the Federal Register on May 5, 2005, regarding the 20,000 additional H1B filings for persons with U.S. masters' degrees or higher.

The regulation has been sent to the Federal Register and is expected to be published May 5.

Under the regulation, only graduates of U.S. master's or higher programs will be eligible to apply for the additional 20,000 H-1B visas.

Petitioners can begin filing for the visas on May 12.

All filings must go to a special address at the Vermont Service Center.

The rule sets forth a procedure for converting H-1B petitions already filed for a fiscal year 2006 start date that now want to take advantage of the additional 20,000 visas in this fiscal year. If an H1B petition for FY2006 is pending or approved, the USCIS will accept a conversion request for the petition so that it is approved with a start date on or before September 30, 2005, if certain conditions are satisfied.

To convert, the petitioner must send:


1) A letter requesting the conversion;

2) A copy of the approval notice for the FY2006 petition OR a copy of the receipt notice for the FY2006 petition OR a copy of the first two pages of the I-129 petition if the receipt notice has not been received OR a new Form I-129;

3) A certified Labor Condition Application from the U.S. Department of Labor valid for the period of requested employment.

There is no fee for converting the petition.

If there is no FY2005 number available, the petition will be processed under the FY2006 Quota and issued a starting date on or after October 1, 2005.

We will be sending conversion requests on behalf of all of our clients who qualify.

We anticipate that the additional 20,000 H-1B visas will be used very quickly.