USCIS Updates Progress Toward H-1B Cap
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of May 22, 2009, it has received approximately 45,700 H-1B petitions toward the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B cap for the fiscal year (FY) 2010 program. The agency continues to accept petitions subject to the general cap.
Additionally, the agency said it has received approximately 20,000 petitions for those with advanced degrees; however, it continues to accept advanced degree petitions “since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable.” Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.
For cases filed for premium processing during the initial five-day filing window, the 15-day premium processing period began April 7. For cases filed for premium processing after the filing window, the premium processing period begins on the date USCIS takes physical possession of the petition.
USCIS will provide regular updates on the processing of FY 2010 H-1B petitions on their website.
