USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2013 H-1B Cap

USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2013 H-1B Cap

USCIS announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2013. June 11, 2012, was the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2013.

USCIS will consider properly filed cases as received on the date that USCIS physically receives the petition; not the date that the petition was postmarked. USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers if they arrive after June 11, 2012 and seek an employment start date in FY 2013.

2013 H-1B Cap Running Out

As of May 25, 2012 the fiscal year 2013 H-1B cap count is as follows:

·        H-1B Regular cap – 48,400 cap eligible petitions towards cap of 65,000

·        H-1B Master’s Degree cap – 17,500 cap eligible petition towards cap of 20,000

The master’s and regular cap will likely be reached in 1-3 weeks. If your employer is still thinking about filing an H-1B petition, they will need to decide as soon as possible. The absolute minimum time it takes to prepare an H-1B case is one week if everything goes right.

People that do not need to be concerned about the H-1B cap are: