January 22, 2004

Update from USCIS on H-1B Cap

In a brief statement issued January 21, 2004, USCIS announced that 43,500 H-1B petitions that could count against the cap have either been approved or are in line awaiting adjudication. The maximum number of H-1B visas available this fiscal year is 65,000 (in fact, it is actually 58,000, as some of the numbers are given over to Singapore and Chile for their new Free Trade professional visas). Once the cap is reached, new numbers will become available only at the start of the new fiscal year, on October 1, 2004.

  USCIS Statement (PDF/77 kb, 1 page)