The USCIS just announced that the H-1B cap was reached on April 2, 2007-- the first day it accepted visa petitions for FY 2008.  The Service received approximately 150,000 petitions, so that there are now sufficient cap-subject H-1B cases in the pipeline to fill the fiscal year 2008 quota--a fiscal year that does not even start until October 1, 2007.  As a result, the Service will hold a computer-generated lottery for only those petitions it received on April 2 and April 3, 2007.  According to the announcement, we shall expect several weeks before the Service notifies petitioners whether or not their cases have been selected for processing.  The Service will return filing fees for those not selected by the lottery.

Kirsten Schlenger, Partner at Weaver, Schlenger & Mazel, in a letter to the editor published in the April 2007 edition of “California Lawyer,” expressed her disappointment with “government officials [who forgot] their professional and human responsibilities” to the “starry-eyed [immigrant] who believes that America is the land of freedom and respect for human rights.”  She held that she supports any effort “that shines light on the flaws in a system that continues to permit such attacks on fundamental fairness.” 

Kirsten's letter to the editor can be read by visiting www.dailyjournal.com, click on "California Lawyer," and then click on Letters to the Editor.

Weaver, Schlenger & Mazel will hosted an in-house Employer Compliance Training Session on April 17, 2007, with a teleconference on April 18, 2007 for national clients.

Kirsten Schlenger will be featured with host Herb Engstrom on “Straight Talk”. She will be speaking on the benefits of the H-1B visa program. The other invited guest is UC Davis Computer Science Professor Norman Matloff, PhD., a frequent writer and lecturer on immigration issues. The program will air on KSAR15, Saratoga Community Access Television on April 22 and April 29. To view the show on line please visit http://www.democraticclub-scc.org/StraightTalk/H-1Bvisas.wmv.