Wednesday, June 13, 2012

H1B cap reached


U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the 65,000 allotted cap for H-1B employment beginning in fiscal year 2013. USCIS determined June 11, 2012 as the cutoff date. USCIS will consider petitions received on that date as properly filed irrespective of what date was on the envelope as postmark. All other petitions will be rejected unless they qualify for one of the following exceptions: 
What will not count against the cap are:
            extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.;
            change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
            allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
            allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

If you are wondering what happened to the 20,000 cases that are exempt from the quota for U.S. masters degree. Well, after accounting, USCIS determined that the 20,000 set-aside for U.S. masters degree exemption cases were received by June 7, 2012. 
So, what to do?
If you have already sent your case, then sit tight until you get a response. If you haven't yet filed the case, you might have to wait till the next date.