H-1B Visa Cap is Reached:
Employers filed their H-1B petitions for high-tech foreign workers on April 1, the first day the H-1B quota opens. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 5, 2013, that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. After today, USCIS will not accept H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption. H-1B season this year was open for a whole of five days.
USCIS Will Choose Which H-1B Petitions to Adjudicate through an H-1B "Lottery, WiIl Notify Employers of Date of Lottery Later USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as the “lottery”) for all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013. The agency will conduct the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit. Due to the high number of petitions received, USCIS is not yet able to announce the exact day of the random selection process. Also, USCIS is currently not providing the total number of petitions received, as they continue to accept filings today. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. H-1B Cap Makes No Economic Sense: The H-1B cap is a fine example of how our immigration policy undermines our economy. Every H-1B worker not hired in the U.S. is a job outsourced to India and other countries. It makes no sense. The cap should be eliminated to ensure good high tech jobs remain in the U.S.
Mira Mdivani Corporate Immigration Attorney The Mdivani Law Firm