H-1B Visa Cap Update
April 10th, 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 April 9, 2012, it has received approximately 17,400 H-1B visa petitions. The annual numerical limit on H-1B visa numbers is 65,000.
USCIS has also received approximately 8,200 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. 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.
