News Updates

FY 2012 H-1B CAP UPDATE:  U.S. Master’s Degree Cap Reached

As of October 21, 2011, USCIS received 46,200 cap eligible petitions toward the annual quota of 65,000* in the regular/ bachelor’s degree cap category. In the 20,000 cap exempt advanced/ master’s degree quota, USCIS has received 20,000 petitions. This means that the advanced degree quota has been met and petitions for advanced degree professionals will be considered under the regular cap category until the regular cap quota is reached. 

If your company has any cap cases to open, please do not delay in initiating the case as numbers are moving quicker than anticipated.

Once the quota is exhausted, no more cap-subject H-1B visas will be available until Fiscal Year 2013.  The filing window for FY2013 will open on April 1, 2012, and the earliest start date of employment under that quota will be October 1, 2012.

*  Up to 6,800 visas may be set aside from the cap of 65,000 during each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program (pursuant to the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements).  Unused numbers in this pool are made available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year.
 

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