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Posts Tagged ‘Cap Count’
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
USCIS has just released its newest cap count, informing us today that, as of November 13, just over 55,000 of the 65,000 H-1B petitions available for this fiscal year (from now until October 1, 2010) have been used.
The recent pace of filings means that we can expect that H-1B numbers may be exhausted for the fiscal year by Christmas or New Year’s. After that, employers will be left with limited alternatives for hiring skilled foreign nationals when US workers are unavailable, at least until the filings for next fiscal year can be made.
Tags: Add new tag, Cap Count, H-1B
Posted in Agency Updates, Temporary Visas | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
We have previously commented on the reduced usage of H-1B numbers, due to the increased availability of US workers (so employers do not need to hire H-1B workers) and the general economic slowdown.
USCIS has updated its “cap count” for H-1Bs for the first time since the new fiscal year started on October 1, and the pace of filings has definitely accelerated. In mid-September, about 46,000 of the 65,000 available “regular” H-1B petitions had been approved, a number which had held relatively steady since early August.
As of October 25, however, USCIS announced it has approved approximately 53,000 of the 65,000 available “regular” H-1B petitions. Based on that usage, we expect H-1B numbers may become unavailable as of late December or early January (or possibly sooner, if there is a rush of cases filed this month).
The separate 20,000 quota for holders of US master’s degree is also nearly completely filled, so will not likely be available for much longer than the “regular” H-1B quota.
Tags: Agency Updates, Cap Count, H-1B
Posted in Agency Updates, Temporary Visas | Click Here To Comment »
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Those of our readers following the H-1B cap saga this year know that filings are down and scrutiny is up for all H-1B petitions this year.
USCIS just released its latest update on the “cap count,” and the remarkable news is that only about 500 applications have been added to the cap since the initial filing period in April. Since many H-1Bs are hired after graduating from US schools, the current economic situation is clearly depressing demand for professional workers. As some have noted, this natural decrease in demand for foreign national workers whenever the US economy is slower means that the statutory caps, which limit such workers when the economy is growing, are not really necessary.
Tags: Cap Count, H-1B
Posted in Agency Updates, Temporary Visas | Click Here To Comment »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
USCIS has published its latest estimates of filings subject to the “H Caps.” They report receipts of approximately 45,000 petitions subject to the 65,000 cap, virtually unchanged in two weeks.
At the same time that fewer petitions are being received by USCIS, the agency is subjecting th0se that are filed to increased scrutiny. Companies are facing Requests For Evidence asking for significant amounts of documentation that the job they are offering exists and will exist in October. Now more than ever, ensuring that initial H petitions are well documented (some would say over-documented) is necessary to have success in H petition filings.
Tags: Cap Count, H-1B
Posted in Agency Updates, Temporary Visas | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Today, USCIS provided an updated cap count stating that, as of last Friday, 44,000 of the 65,000 available H-1B petitions (and 20,000 petitions claiming the additional 20,000 Master’s Degree exemptions) have been received. Based on comparison of today’s announcement with yesterday’s that 43,000 petitions were received as of April 13, it appears that, for the moment, anyway, H-1B availability may continue into the summer for the first time in several years.
Those of us with years of experience in the immigration field will recall the frustrations of advising clients during this “cap watch” – employers need to understand that the cap could be reached at any time, so hiring decisions need to be accelerated and petitions need to be prepared quickly.
Fortunately, it also means that employers can make hiring decisions for the next few weeks without the worry that their petitions will be rejected for lack of available H-1Bs.
Tags: Cap Count, H-1B
Posted in Hot Questions, Temporary Visas | Click Here To Comment »
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