US Immigration News & Commentary

April 22, 2009

H1B Update: H1B visas still available.

Filed under: Immigration — Tags: , — justin @ 10:51 am

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced an updated number of filings for H-1B petitions for the fiscal year 2010 program.

USCIS has received approximately 44,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. The agency continues to accept petitions subject to the general cap.

Additionally, the agency has received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees; however, we continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable. Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.

For cases filed for premium processing during the initial five-day filing window, the 15-day premium processing period began April 7. For cases filed for premium processing after the filing window, the premium processing period begins on the date USCIS takes physical possession of the petition.

Via the USCIS

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April 9, 2009

H1B cap not reached in first 5 business days after April 1.

Filed under: Immigration — Tags: , — justin @ 6:29 am

In a trend that tracks the economic realities of the moment the USCIS has announced that they have only received about 1/2 of the number of petitions that would count towards the cap. There will be no lottery for any petition unless it is filed on the day that the USCIS receives enough to meet the cap.

The Master’s cap has nearly been reached however, and this also reflects the need for highly skilled and specialized workers.

Clearly the market works and there is no need for a cap at all.

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