USCIS

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (used to be BCIS, INS)

AAO Processing Times (October - December 2022)

Timeliness of Fiscal Year 2023 First Quarter Completions (October - December 2022)
Form Type Case Type Completed 0-180 Days Quarterly Completions
Cumulative total of all completions   69.69% 848
I-129CW Petition for CNMI Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker 66.67% 3
I-129F Petition for Fiancée 100% 14

Agency

Immigration Law

USCIS Issues Proposed Rule to Adjust Certain Immigration and Naturalization Fees

Release Date 

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. The new fees would allow USCIS to more fully recover its operating costs, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, and prevent the accumulation of future case backlogs. USCIS receives approximately 96 percent of its funding from filing fees, not from congressional appropriations.

Recapturing H-1B unused time (Remainder Option); Changing H-1B field; USCIS’s stand on combining degree and work experience

Question details

1. Regarding 'H1B remainder option', what is the time limit (in years) where one can remain outside the US and still recapture their H1B remaining years? I am currently in India and have been here for two years now. I have approx. 4.5 yrs remaining on H1B and would like to recapture it. By when should I find an employer/employment so that I am eligible to use this H1B remainder option?

2. I did a Masters in chemical engineering in the US, and my H1B was issued in 2019. H1B is a specialty occupation, and I was told that H1B could only be used to work in the same field of study, i.e., chemical engineering in my case. However, with this 'H1B remainder option', are you inferring that one can actually change professions and still work in domains like software or finance in the US again?

 

Video URL
FAQ Transcript

Even if you were outside for ten years you could still come under the remainder option as per the laws today. 

You can change professions as long as you have a degree in the right field.