News Updates

USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2012 H-1B Cap

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2012.  FY 2012 runs from 10/1/11 through 9/30/12.
 
Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 was the final receipt date for new H-1B petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2012.  
 
USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers seeking an employment start date in FY 2012 that arrived after Nov. 22, 2011.
 
As of Oct. 19, 2011, USCIS had also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the ‘advanced degree’ exemption.
 
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.  In addition, petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted toward the FY 2012 H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
                
-       Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.;
 
-       Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
 
-       Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
 
-       Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
 
The filing window for a cap-subject H-1B under the Fiscal Year 2013 quota will open on April 1, 2012.   H-1B petitions approved in FY 2013 will allow for an employment start date no earlier than October 1, 2012.

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