USCIS Will Allow Resubmission of Certain FY 2021 H-1B Petitions Rejected or Closed Due to Start Date
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declared today it will accept resubmitted fiscal year (FY) 2021 H-1B cap-subject petitions that were rejected or administratively closed solely because the requested start date was after 1st Oct 2020.
If your FY 2021 petition was rejected or authoritatively closed solely because your petition was based on a registration submitted during the initial registration period, yet you requested a beginning date after 1st Oct 2020, you may re-submit that recently filed petition, with all applicable fees, at the address below. Such petitions should be resubmitted before 1st Oct 2021. If properly resubmitted, USCIS will consider the petition to have been filed on the original receipt date.
While resubmitting the petition, you should include your FY 2021 H-1B cap registration selection notification. If you got a rejection or administrative closure notice for the original FY 2021 H-1B cap petition, you should include that also. Also, USCIS encourages the utilization of a brightly colored cover sheet indicating that you are refiling an FY 2021 H-1B cap case that was originally rejected or administratively closed solely because your petition was based on a registration submitted during the initial registration period, however, you requested a beginning date after Oct. 1, 2020. This will help guarantee that it is reviewed upon receipt.
Background | USCIS Allows Resubmission of Certain FY2021 H-1B Petitions
In 2020, USCIS implemented an electronic registration process for the H-1B cap. Planned petitioners looking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, including for beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption. Should first electronically register and pay the $10 H-1B registration fee for every beneficiary. The electronic registration process has streamlined processing by reducing paperwork and data exchange and gave overall cost savings to employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
For FY 2021, the number of petitions filed during the initial filing period was below. The number projected as needed to reach the numerical allocations. This error was possibly related to various factors, including the economic, political, and public health uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as way that FY 2021 was the first year that we executed the electronic registration process. Therefore, in August 2020, USCIS selected extra registrations that were held in reserve.
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The filing period for registrations chose in August ended on Nov. 16, 2020. A few petitioners showed a beginning date after Oct. 1, 2020. USCIS rejected or administratively closed those petitions. Because they were based on registrations submitted during the initial registration period yet showed a beginning date after Oct. 1, 2020. Upon reconsideration, USCIS no longer believes that the regulations required us to reject or administratively close those petitions.
