We are now in the midst of H-1B season. What April 15 is to accountants, April 1 has become for immigration lawyers. However, unlike April 15, April 1 is not a hard and fast deadline. Moreover, given the state of the economy, April 1 might not have the same meaning this year that it has for the past few years.
For the past few years, employers needing H-1B nonimmigrant visas to employ foreign nationals were forced to take a risk. Employers who prepared textbook perfect H-1B petitions, filed the very first day such petitions were accepted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, could not be certain of the success of these petitions. In fact, there was only a 50/50 chance that the petition would be adjudicated.
