President Clinton Signs the New H-1B Bill, October 17, 2000 S.2045, the "American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000" increases the existing visa quotas as follows: FY 2000 -increase from 115,000 to 195,000 FY 2001-increase from 107,500 to 195,000 FY 2002 -increase from 65,000 to 195,000. This bill would raise the fee that employers are required to pay to submit an H-1B petition from $500 to $1000. The H-1B Cap Bill became effective immediately while the fee increase bill becomes effective 60 days after it was signed into law, December 13, 2000.

The H-1B cap will no longer impact any foreigner who is employed--or has a written offer of employment--by a university, college or related nonprofit organization. Neither will nonprofit or government research organizations be subject to the quota. Once a person under these categories leaves the related position, however, they do become subject to the H-1B cap once again, unless the subsequent employer is likewise exempt. Secondly, for those with a petition filed no more than 90 days prior and no more than 180 days following the completion of a graduate degree, the cap will not be applicable.

H1 Work prior to Approval: Anyone awaiting approval of an H-1B transfer may legally begin to work for their new employer. An H-1B visa holder may begin to work for a new employer when a non-frivolous, legally viable H-1B petition is submitted, and no longer must wait for approval before doing so. Prior law required that a worker wait until the petition was approved before changing employers. If denied, the authorization will be terminated. Under the law prior to October 17, 2000 a person on an H-1B with one specific employer was not allowed to work for another employer, unless and until the person obtained a second H-1B approval for the other employer. INS had consistently maintained the position that one can only start work on an H1 status after obtaining the approval, but S.2045 makes this unncessary.

For H-1B visa holders with a pending employment-based green card, and who filed a labor certification or I-140 at least one year prior, the six year time limit is waived, with extensions granted in one year increments until the green card petition is either approved or denied. Section 104(c) allows ANY alien (1) who is the beneficiary of a FILED EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 visa petition; and (2) would be eligible to apply for permanent residence except for the application of per-country limitations (e.g. born in India or mainland China) to apply to the INS for extensions of nonimmigrant status until his or her adjustment of status application has been adjudicated. The law states that the application "may" be approved.

After an application for adjustment of status for a person sponsored under an EB category remains unadjudicated for over 180 days, the individual is free to change jobs as long as the new job "is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the job for which the petition is filed".