H1B Quota and H-4 Visas Issuance for College Degree Holders at Chennai, INDIA
Posted Apr 29, 1999

The Law Office of Sheela Murthy has been receiving several emails and requests for clarification regarding the following two issues. As a courtesy to our clients, we are sending out the update as a newsflash, rather than waiting till the next edition of our Immigration Law Bulletin in May 1999.

1. H1B Quota: Has the H1B cap been met for this fiscal year and will all new H1Bs be only approved with a start date on or after October 1, 1999?

The rumors that all H1Bs have been utilized for this fiscal year are false and the INS has not provided us a final count, nor have they issued a memorandum on how they plan to process existing cases or new cases filed at the Service Centers once the H1B will be met. However, as of early April 1999, there were probably enough H1B Petitions with the INS Service Centers to exhaust the 115,000 quota for this fiscal year (as we had announced earlier in the Immigration Law Bulletin of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy in March 1999 and April 1999).

INS has recently announced that for most cases subject to the H1B cap at the Vermont, Nebraska, and Texas Service Centers, these cases will be placed on hold to enable the California Service Center (which has a longer processing time) to catch up with the other Service Centers. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy is continuing to receive approvals as of this week on cases that were presumably approved prior to the "hold." The INS estimates that it does appear likely that an official confirmation that the H1B quota is filled will come sometime in May 1999. When we obtain that information confirmed directly from legitimate sources like the INS or AILA, we will notify all of the subscribers of the Immigration Law Bulletin of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy.

2. H4 Visas Issuance for College Degree Holders at Chennai, INDIA:

Is the U.S. consulate at Chennai denying H4 visas for spouses of H1B holders in cases where the H4 visa applicant spouse has more than 3 years of college education?

The Law Office of Sheela Murthy has been advising clients that rumors of H4 visa applicant spouses being denied H4 visas based on the fact that they have a college degree or higher education are false. Such an interpretation would not be allowed under applicable law. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy has been in contact with the U.S. Consulate at Chennai regarding this matter.

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