WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will not reject an H-1B petition that is subject to the fiscal year 2009 cap solely on the grounds that it was received at the wrong service center (e.g., the petition may have been inadvertently mailed to the California Service Center instead of the Vermont Service Center or vice versa).  

It is important to note this accommodation does not apply if the petitions were sent to the Texas or Nebraska Service Centers.

USCIS is taking this limited, short-term measure to alleviate concerns from the public where an H-1B petition has been received by USCIS but at the incorrect Service Center.  This measure applies only to H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year 2009 cap that are received by USCIS before the close of business on the “final receipt date”.   USCIS will announce the final receipt date once the agency determines it has received the number of petitions needed to fill the congressionally mandated limitations of 65,000 new H-1B visas and 20,000 U.S. advanced degree exemptions per fiscal year.