USCIS Reaches H-1B Statutory Cap for FY 2014 | Practical Law

USCIS Reaches H-1B Statutory Cap for FY 2014 | Practical Law

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of April 5, 2013, it has received a sufficient number of new H-1B visa petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 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 (commonly called the "advanced degree cap").

USCIS Reaches H-1B Statutory Cap for FY 2014

Practical Law Legal Update 4-525-6140 (Approx. 4 pages)

USCIS Reaches H-1B Statutory Cap for FY 2014

by PLC Labor & Employment
Published on 08 Apr 2013 • USA (National/Federal)
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of April 5, 2013, it has received a sufficient number of new H-1B visa petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year 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 (commonly called the "advanced degree cap").
On April 5, 2013, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received:
  • A sufficient number of new H-1B visa petitions to reach the statutory cap for FY 2014. The statutory cap is 65,000 H-1B visas, less up to 6,800 H-1Bs allocated to citizens of Chile and Singapore under the US free trade agreements with those countries.
  • More than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption (commonly called the "advanced degree cap").
In total, USCIS received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period. The exhaustion of the H-1B statutory and advanced degree caps for FY 2014 is the fastest the cap has been met since the FY 2009 cap was met during the opening filing period (April 1st through 7th) in 2008. USCIS will reject any H-1B petitions received after April 5, 2013 that are subject to either the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree cap.
All petitions received between April 1 and April 5, 2013 will be entered into a computer-generated random selection process, known as the lottery. USCIS will first randomly select the 20,000 petitions for the advanced degree cap. Any advanced degree petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the statutory cap of 65,000 for FY 2014. USCIS is not yet able to announce the day the lottery will take place, given the high number of petitions received, and is not currently providing the total number of petitions received.
For information related to FY 2014 H-1B filings, see Legal Updates, New H-1B Visas for FY2014: Petitions Accepted Beginning April 1, 2013 and Premium Processing for Cap-subject H-1B Petitions Adjusted to Begin April 15, 2013: USCIS.
USCIS will continue to accept petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. H-1B petitions exempt from the cap include:
  • Amendments, extensions and transfers of existing H-1B status, where the worker has previously been counted against the cap.
  • Petitions by:
    • government research organizations;
    • institutions of higher education;
    • nonprofits related to institutions of higher education; and
    • nonprofit research organizations.
For more information on the H-1B cap, see Practice Note, The H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification.