This week, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published an update on the H-1B Cap for fiscal year 2012 (FY2012). According to the update, as of October 21, 2011, all of the "Master's Cap" H-1Bs have been used, and 46,200 "Regular Cap" H-1Bs have been used. This leaves just over 10,000 cap-subject H-1Bs available for this fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2011. The Master's Cap refers to H-1B petitions filed for persons who have graduated with a Master's or higher degree from a U.S. university. Petitions filed for the Master's cap will now be treated as Regular Cap H-1Bs until this cap is also reached.
Note that the unused 6,800 H-1B1 cap numbers from Fiscal Year 2011, which are set aside for Singaporean and Chilean citizens based on free trade agreements with those countries, will be added to the remaining H-1B cap numbers for FY2012. The USCIS has not yet applied the unused balance of H-1B1s, or indicated how many are left from FY2011. Based on the experience of previous years, there will likely be about 5,000 unused H-1B1s, which would increase the remaining number of available new H-1Bs to approximately 15,000.
Please note that H-1B petitions are not subject to the cap 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.
Please contact our office if you have further questions about the cap, and whether it applies in a specific case.
We will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.
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