The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed yesterday that as of Monday, December 21, 2009, the H-1B visa numerical limit ( “H-1B cap”) has been reached for Fiscal Year 2010 (October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010). As a result, the USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions received after December 21, 2009 for new H-1B workers seeking an employment start date in FY2010.
For H-1B cab-subject petitions received on December 21, 2009, the USCIS will conduct a computer-generated random selection process (“H-1B lottery”) to assign the remaining available H-1B numbers. Cap-subject petitions received on December 21, 2009 that are not selected through the H-1B lottery will be rejected and the filing fees returned to the petitioner.
The USCIS will continue to accept petitions that are not subject to the cap. These include petitions where one of the following applies:
- The individual has been granted H-1B status within the last six years;
- The petitioning employer is a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization; or
- The petitioning employer is an institute of higher education.
The USCIS will accept H-1B petitions for FY2011 starting April 1, 2010, for employment starting on October 1, 2010. We recommend reviewing your human resources file to prepare in advance for FY2011 H-1B filings.
Please contact our office if you have further questions on the H-1B cap.
Business Immigration Alerts Mailing
List
If you wish to be added to this mailing list, please send
an email to bizimmalert@mgplc.com.
If
you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send an email
to unsubscribe@mgplc.com
with "Remove" in the subject line.
