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USCIS Will Accept H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2017 Beginning April 1, 2016

On April 1, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2017 cap. U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge in fields such as science, engineering and computer programming.

The congressionally mandated cap on H-1B visas for FY 2017 is 65,000. The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the 65,000 cap.

USCIS expects to receive more than 65,000 petitions during the first five business days of this year’s program. The agency will monitor the number of petitions received and notify the public when the H-1B cap has been met. If USCIS receives an excess of petitions during the first five business days, the agency will use a computer-generated lottery system to randomly select the number of petitions required to meet the cap. USCIS will reject all unselected petitions that are subject to the cap as well as any petitions received after the cap has closed.

Premium Processing for Cap-Subject Petitions

H-1B petitioners may still continue to request premium processing together with their H-1B petition. However, please note that USCIS has temporarily adjusted its current premium processing practice based on historic premium processing receipt levels and the possibility that the H-1B cap will be met in the first five business days of the filing season. In order to prioritize data entry for cap-subject H-1B petitions, USCIS will begin premium processing for H-1B cap-subject petitions requesting premium processing no later than May 16, 2016.

Filing Petitions

H-1B petitioners are reminded that when the temporary employment or training will be in different locations, the state where your company or organization’s primary office is located will determine where you should send your Form I-129 package, regardless of where in the United States the various worksites are located. Please ensure that when temporary employment or training will be in different locations, the address on page 1, part 1 of Form I-129 is for your organization’s primary office. Please note that when listing a “home office” as a work site location on Part 5, question 3, USCIS will consider this a separate and distinct work site location.

H-1B petitioners must follow all statutory and regulatory requirements as they prepare petitions in order to avoid delays in processing and possible requests for evidence. USCIS has developed detailed information, including an optional checklist, Form M-735, Optional Checklist for Form I-129 H-1B Filings, on how to complete and submit an FY 2017 H-1B petition. The optional checklist for FY 2017 will be available within the next week.

Cases will be considered accepted on the date USCIS receives a properly filed petition with the appropriate fees.

For more information on the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program and current Form I-129 processing times, visit the H-1B FY 2017 Cap Season Web page or call the National Customer Service Center at 800-375-5283 or 800-767-1833 (TDD for the hearing impaired). We encourage H-1B applicants to subscribe to the H-1B Cap Season email updates located on the H-1B FY 2017 Cap Season Web page.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Facebook (/uscis), Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis) and the USCIS blog The Beacon.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Complaint Filed To NYC Human Rights Commission Regarding School Conferences On St. Patrick’s Day

O’DWYER & BERNSTIEN, LLP

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   February 19th, 2016

Contact: Brian O’Dwyer (917)-376-4461 or CJ Warnke (732)-284-0888

COMPLAINT FILED TO NYC HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REGARDING SCHOOL CONFERENCES ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY

Brian O’Dwyer, senior partner at O’Dwyer & Bernstein, LLP, announced today that the firm filed, on behalf of Frank J. Schorn a teacher in the public schools of New York, a charge at the New York City Human Rights Commission alleging that the New York City Department of Education had violated Schorn’s civil rights by scheduling parent teacher conferences on St. Patrick’s Day of 2016. Schorn and other Irish-American teachers in the New York City school system are obligated by contract to participate in parent teacher conferences. As a result of this scheduling, Irish-American teachers have been denied the opportunity to participate in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in particular. The parade has been found by the United States Courts to be not only a celebration of Irish heritage but a religious activity celebrating the feast day of the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York, St. Patrick.

The complaint alleges that the Department of Education has not complied with the Human Rights Law of the City of New York in that despite repeated requests by members of the Irish caucus of the New York City Council, the Department of Education has not changed the date for parent teacher conferences. The scheduling of the conferences on the most sacred day for Irish-Americans not only interferes with the religious observance of the many Irish-American school teachers and administrators employed by the Department of Education, it similarly interferes with the rights of the parents of children enrolled in the New York City school system and that they also must make a choice between discussing their child’s scholastic progress or observing a religious feast day.

“This year the Mayor instituted three new school holidays,” said Dr. O’Dwyer, who serves as Chair of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. “One observing the Lunar New Year and the others recognizing Muslim religious holidays. We are not asking that the Mayor accommodate New York’s oldest immigrant community by declaring a school holiday. We are instead asking that the Department of Education make a minor change to its schedule so that the religious observance of thousands of teachers and parents who celebrate the feast day of St. Patrick be recognized and honored. In a city which celebrates its diversity and its accommodation for people of all religious and ethnic identities, it is particularly upsetting that the Department of Education has so blithely ignored the legitimate religious and ethnic expressions of Irish-American New Yorkers.”

“The insensitive scheduling of parent teacher meetings on March 17th has put me in an untenable position of choosing between my ethnic and religious heritage and my duty to help my students,” said Frank Schorn, who serves as Vice Chair of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center. “I foresee being prevented from attending any Irish cultural events on March 17th.”

23rd Annual Robert Briscoe Awards

You are cordially invited to the
Emerald Isle Immigration Center
23rd Annual ROBERT BRISCOE AWARDS
MONDAY, 25TH JANUARY 2016
6-8PM “21” CLUB
21 WEST 52ND STREET, NYC

Join us in congratulating the
2016 Honorees
The Honorable Melinda Katz,
Queens Borough President
Deborah King, Executive Director
1199SEIU Training & Employment Funds

Individual Ticket $175
BUY TICKETS ONLINE NOW

Sponsorship
$10,000 up to 15 tickets with singular signage & prominent program listing
$5,000 up to 10 tickets with shared signage & program listing
$2,500 up to 4 tickets with shared signage & program listing

To RSVP or for Sponsorship opportunities please contact
Caitriona Howley at caitriona@eiic.org