Tag Archives: h1b costs

H1B Visa Quota Finished on November 22, 2011

Immigration News, , , , , , , , , , ,

The FY2012 H1B visa season commencing on April 1, 2011 has accelerated the H1B visa quota numbers throughout the post Summer period from September and is now getting close to being filled. At one stage it didn’t even look like we would get there before the end of the 2011 calendar year.

On November 22, 2011, the H1B visa quota has been reached according to the USCIS and they will no longer accept new H1B visa petitions for this current year as they assume the applications on hand will fulfill the current quota

This equates to about about a 15,000 increase in the main cap in the last 10 days which is a massive acceleration given that in September we were not even half way through either the Advance Degree Exemption cap or the Main cap. The Advanced Degree Exemption category which is now fully exhausted for this H1B visa season cycle as at October 21 for the 20,000 visas.

Cap Type Cap Amount Cap Eligible Petitions Date of Last Count
H-1B Regular Cap 65,000 65,000 11/22/2011
H-1B Master’s Exemption 20,000 20,000 10/21/2011 (completed)

It should be noted that the related H-1B1 visa for Chilean and Singaporean citizens are not included in this cap which is about 6,800 set aside each year but is rarely filled and unused from the previous year are used in the current year. These are still being accepted for FY2012.

Congrats to all those who were successful this year and good luck to those on F1 Visa OPT for next year which would begin on April 1, 2012. It may well be a more competitive year next year so would be good to begin your search now and plan ahead.

Cj

H1B Visa Quota FY2012 April Update

Visa Info, , , , , , , , , , ,

The FY2012 H1B visa season which began on April 1, 2011 has received its first quota update via the USCIS yesterday. The USCIS tends to release the updates sporadically and ultimately it is driven by the demand for the H1B visas and how quickly the quota fills up.

So currently 5,900 H1B visa petitions have been received thus far for the main cap and 4,500 have been taken in for foreign workers who hold a US Master’s degree bringing a total of 10,400. One the Master’s cap is filled, new petitions received go towards the main cap. None of these applications have been processed and accepted yet so when future total updates are released by the USCIS, numbers may be revised.

Cap Type Total H1B Visas Current H1B Total

H-1B Regular Cap

65,000

5,900

H-1B Masters Exemption

20,000

4,500

This means that if you have a prospect employer for the H1B visa you should still ensure you file your H1B petition in a timely manner and organize all your Application supporting documents. As while this is still not a landrush the whole Visa landscape has been largely unpredictable in recent years so there is no danger in ensuring your petition is in the front of the queue. Also note that the Premium Processing fee has gone up to $1,255 from $1,000 in recent years.

It should be noted that H1B visa petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will not be counted towards the congressionally mandated FY 2012 H-1B cap. Therefore, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed for the following reasons without regard for the above H1B visa quotas:

  • Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States.
  • Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers.
  • Allow current H-1B workers to change employers.
  • Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

Good luck to all application in their search for US employment and we hope we find all the articles and training items here of some use to you in your journey.

CJ