H-1B Visa Cap Almost Reached!
May 30th, 2012 by SRW Lawyers
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has provided an update on this year’s H-1B visa cap. As of May 25th, 2012, it has received approximately 48,400 H-1B visa petitions. The annual numerical limit on H-1B visa numbers is 65,000.
USCIS has also received approximately 17,500 H-1B visa petitions eligible for the H-1B Advance Degree Exemption. Under this exemption, an additional 20,000 annual H-1B visa numbers are available for foreign workers with a master’s or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution.
Individuals interested in obtaining an H-1B visa number for the 2013 Fiscal Year, which runs from October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013, should consider contacting an attorney to start the petition process as soon as possible. Once the H-1B cap is reached, the next opportunity to file an H-1B cap subject petition will be April 1, 2013. These petitions would not have employment start dates until October 1, 2013.
