H1B at a governmental research organization,

[queenblades]

Hello,

I am on OPT at this moment and it is going to be ended in September 15th, 2006. I have not yet graduated from my M.A. program in fact. Presently I am doing my internship at a governmental research organization and is offering a job after the OPT. However the organization that I am working with doesnt hire foreigners directly, so one of their commercial contract companies that supposes to file the H1B process for me. Unfortunately, my situation right now is:

- I have not yet had an advanced degree, so I can't apply for H1B Advanced;
- My school stopped extending my F-1 visa since I had started my OPT (they assumed that I had graduated). I was told that I didnt need to apply for extending my visa, and now I was told that I would have only 60 days more to stay in US after my OPT expired, i.e. I could stay until December 15th, 2006.
- The caps for both type of H1B have been reached now due to the newest update.
- The job offered is to work at a governmental research organization, therefore in my opinion, it will fall into exemption categories.

My questions are: Since my case falls into exemtion categories,

- Could the commercial company apply for H1-B visa now even though the caps were closed, I dont have an advanced degree?
- Could the commercial company apply for Premium Processing now, since I could only stay in US before December 15, 2006?
- How long the H1B process could be for an exemption case like mine?

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.