The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has updated the count of H-1B petitions received and counted towards the 65,000 cap as of May 6, 2010.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) cap. USCIS will monitor the number of petitions received for both the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000 U.S. master's degree or higher educational exemption.

What is a "Cap"

The word "Cap" used in this Update refers to annual numerical limitations set by Congress on certain nonimmigrant visa classifications, e.g., H-1B and H-2B. Caps control the number of workers that can be issued a visa in a given fiscal year to enter the United States pursuant to a particular nonimmigrant classification. Caps also control the number of aliens already in the United States that may be authorized to change status to a cap-subject classification.  The annual numerical limitations generally do not apply to persons who have already been counted against the cap in a particular nonimmigrant classification and are seeking to extend their stay in that classification.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting H-1B applications for applicants beginning employment on October 1, 2010 or later.  Don't delay because the volume of H-1B petitions filed at the end of 2009 (October-December 2009) increased substantially and it's likely that this trend will continue into 2010 meaning the H-1B cap could be met and exceeded on or shortly after April 1st.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will not extend the period in which it temporarily accepted H-1B petitions filed with uncertified Labor Condition Applications (LCAs).

WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2011 cap on April 1, 2010.  Cases will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS takes possession of a properly filed petition with the correct fee; not the date that the petition is postmarked.

On April 1, 2010, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) begins accepting H-1B visa applications for the 2011 fiscal year (which starts on October 1, 2010).   In 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received approximately 163,000 petitions during the five-day filing period and conducted a random lottery to select the 65,000 petitions that would be eligible for processing.  In 2007, the USCIS reached its H-1B visa quota in one day.  Last year was the first year where all H-1B visas were not taken in the first week of April 2009.

PORTLAND, Ore. - There is an old saying, "better late than never" and Marion Pringle certainly demonstrated that when she finally received proof she's a U.S. citizen...at the ripe age of 104!