Wednesday the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the H-1B visa cap number for FY 2012 has been reached.
The final receipt date for cap-subject H-1B petitions was Nov. 22, meaning new applications will not be considered. The USCIS said only petitions physically received by that date will be evaluated; postmark dates do not impact the process.
H-1B's regular cap number of 65,000 was the number reached Tuesday. The 20,000 cap master's exemption was attained in October.
The Nov. 22 date represents an almost two-month difference from FY2011. The regular cap for the previous fiscal year was reached on Jan. 26.
The USCIS' release stated that the following non-cap petitions are still being accepted:
-to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.;
-to change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
-to allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
-to allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
