US Gives H1B Visa Holders and Applicants 60-Day Grace to Respond to Notices

The United States’ Customs and Immigration Service has declared its intention to grant a 60 days’ relief window within which H-1B visa holders and green card applicants can respond to various H1B visa-related requests and notices that require submission of varying documents.

The USCIS decided in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that has altered normal day-to-day activities, fostered the rise of unforeseen circumstances, claimed the lives of several, left many unemployed, and in pains, and has left many to live in fear of the uncertainty of the next moment.

The rise of grave inconveniences in reverting required documents for visa processing and application brought about by various lockdown orders that mandate people to stay indoors all day thus led the USCIS to allow a 60-day grace time to H1B visa holders.

In the published statement on her website, the USCIS extended the flexibilities that it hitherto first announced on March 30. The decision to further extend is targeted at helping and assisting H1B visa applicants, petitioners who are responding to:

Notices of Intent to Deny –otherwise known as NOID, that’s handed out to visa applicants to notify the latter of the intention to deny the application – mostly due to ineligibility.

Notices of Intent to Revoke – also known as NOIR, which is issued to inform an H1b visa holder of the Service’s plan to void a previously-given visa

Notice of Appeal or Motion – issued to demonstrate the intention to subject certain H1B visa decisions to immigration laws in courts of law

Filing date requirements for Form I-290B

Requests for Evidence – issued to immigrants to request more documents for further clarification.

Notices of Intent to Rescind

But the grace isn’t a blind and blanket one. The USCIS has stated that the 60-days flexibility in the submission period will only apply to notices and requests that were issued between March 1 and July 1, 2020.

The implication of all this is that persons who have a case to answer regarding H1B applications have a grace period of 60-days before definite and irreversible actions or decisions are taken. H1B visa applicants or holders can all now relax, stop fretting, and calmly gather their visa processing and renewal documents.

According to US laws, the number of H1B visas that the USCIS can issue to foreign workers in a fiscal year is capped at 65,000 – although the USCIS is also empowered to issue an additional 20, 000 H1B visa to highly-skilled non-US citizens that have undertaken higher studies such as Masters, Ph.D., etc. in Universities on US soil.

• May 7th, 2020
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