March 30, 2012 

USCIS to Begin Accepting H-1B Petitions for Fiscal Year 2013 on April 2, 2012

On March 27, 2012, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the cap for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 on Monday, April 2, 2012. Cases will be deemed accepted on the date that USCIS takes possession of a correctly filed petition rather than the date the petition is postmarked.

The congressionally mandated limit on H-1B petitions for FY 2013 is 65,000. In addition, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who possess a U.S. master’s degree or higher are exempt from the fiscal year cap. USCIS will notify the public when it receives the necessary number of applications to meet the annual cap. If the number of applications received exceeds the numerical limit, USCIS will randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the cap from the pool of applications received on the final receipt date. Cap-subject petitions that are received after the final receipt date or those that are timely received but not selected through the process above will be rejected

New H-1B petitions are exempt from the annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at institutions of higher education or related or affiliated non-profit entities, non-profit research organizations, or governmental research organizations. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who were previously counted against the cap also do not count toward the cap for FY 2013. As a result, USCIS will continue to process FY 2012 petitions filed to extend a current H-1B worker’s term of stay in the United States, change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers, allow current H-1B workers to change employers, or allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position. In addition, petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries who will work only in Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are exempt from the cap until December 31, 2014.

U.S. businesses utilize the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields of knowledge, such as engineering, the sciences, and computer programming. Applicants should follow all statutory and regulatory requirements when preparing H-1B petitions to avoid delays and requests for evidence.

If you require assistance with preparing an H-1B petition for FY 2013, please contact your GT attorney.