H-1B Visas Almost Gone

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is reporting that as of December 10, 2009, approximately 62,500 H-1B cap-subject petitions have been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 for the fiscal year 2010 cap. Therefore, any H-1B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000. Overall, the H-1B cap had been inching up very slowly. However, in the past month, we have seen a big jump in the H-1B count. It is hard to predict when the cap will be reached, but we recommend filing any potential H-1B cap cases immediately.

Last year, USCIS received approximately 163,000 petitions during the initial five-day H-1B cap filing period, and among those USCIS conducted a random selection process to select 65,000 petitions for the H-1B cap plus 20,000 petitions for the advanced degree cap. Because of the downturn in the economy, the FY 2010 cap was not met immediately as in the past few years.

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