Some H1B Petitioners Receive Forms I-797 With "1B1" Designation In Error

On February 28, 2017, The American Association of Immigration Lawyers (AILA) published a news update titled, “Practice Alert: Erroneous H-1B Approval Notices with '1B1' Annotation” (AILA Doc. No. 17022842).

The update explains that AILA members have recently reported receiving Forms I-797 Notices of Approval for H1B beneficiaries that are annotated “1B1.” The H1B1 category is only for nationals of Singapore in Chile. Thus, regular H1B petitions should be annotated H1B instead of “1B1.”

AILA reports that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) California Service Center (CSC) confirmed that this was the result of a technical error that has now been resolved. Accordingly, the USCIS will reprint corrected approval notices and send them to those who were affected by the error. AILA reports that amended notices that properly reflect the H1B designation will be mailed this week, and petitioners should receive the amended notices within 10-14 days.