H-1B Visa Numbers Nearly Gone for 2013
June 4th, 2012 by SRW Lawyers
As of June 1, 2012, USCIS has received approximately 55,600 H-1B visa petitions for this year’s H-1B visa cap. The annual numerical limit on H-1B visa numbers is 65,000. In the last cap update (May 25th, 2012), USCIS stated that it had received approximately 48,400 H-1B visa petitions. This means that 7,200 petitions were received in the past week. At this rate, the cap may be hit within the next week or so.
There are also only approximately 1,300 H-1B visa numbers remaining under 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.
