Timely Filed H-1B Petitions: Avoid 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid Denials

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept H-1B petitions for tax year 2009 on April 1, 2008 for jobs beginning October 1, 2008. Errors in the filing procedure or inclusion Improper filing fees will result in the rejection of an H-1B petition. Such rejections can have dire consequences for your H-1B candidate and your company. Here are four common mistakes to avoid.

Mistake #1 Thinking you have a lot of time to present: Lessons from history

Filing H-1B petitions for delivery to USCIS service centers on April 1, 2008 is no longer an option. Last April, thousands of employers had their petitions rejected because they did not file early enough. On the first day H-1B applications were accepted this April, USCIS received 133,000 applications seeking one of the 65,000 available H-1B slots. Those employers whose petitions arrived on the second day of filing were rejected because the H-1B quota had already been met. Don’t be one of those who gets rejected because you filed too late. Early document preparation is essential to filing H-1B petitions on time.

Mistake #2 when applying to the wrong USCIS service center

Filing a petition with the wrong USCIS Service Center will likely result in a rejection. A petition is filed with the California Service Center if the temporary employment will be in the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana , Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, or Wyoming.

A petition is filed with the Vermont Service Center if the temporary work will be performed in: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire , New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, US Virgin Islands, or West Virginia.

When temporary employment will be in different states, the state where your business is located will determine the Service Center for filing the application. For example, if the beneficiary will work in Arizona and Texas, and your business is located in California, file your H-1B petition with the California Service Center.

Mistake #3 Using Unaffiliated Couriers to Deliver to California Service Center

If you are sending documents to the California Service Center using couriers other than the US Postal Service, make sure they are a certified carrier listed on the Service Center’s list of approved carriers. If the private carrier is not listed in the Service Center, delivery of your request will be refused at the Service Center entrance.

Mistake #4: Incorrect filing fees

Petitions with incorrect filing fees will result in rejection. Generally, an employer must pay the Form I-129 H-1B filing fee ($320), the H-1B training fee of $750 or $1,500, depending on the size of your business, and a screening and prevention fee fraud ($500).

If a business currently employs 1-25 full-time equivalent employees, the H-1B training fee is $750. Businesses that employ more than 25 full-time equivalent employees will be required to pay $1,500. The employer must pay the H-1B training fee at the time of initial hire and the first H-1B extension for the same employee. The H-1B Training Fee is not required for the second or subsequent H-1B extension petitions. The Fraud Prevention and Detection fee must be paid when the employer initially hires the employee, even if the employee is currently working as an H-1B with another employer.

An easy way to remember this is that each employer must pay the H-1B training fee twice for each H-1B employee and the H-1B fraud prevention and detection fee must be paid once for each H-1B employee.

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