H-1B Cap Reached for FY 2013
June 12th, 2012 by Eric J. Ramos
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has reached the 65,000 cap for H-1B specialty occupation petitions for the FY 2013. These petitions are sent for employment authorization for an employment beginning in FY 2013.
US employers hire workers from abroad for specialty occupations which require specialized knowledge. People with such specialized knowledge and skills maybe scientists, engineers or computer programmers. Such workers can enter the United States using the H-1B visa. These employees may later be sponsored by their employers for green cards under the green card through employment category.
USCIS considers only complete applications for processing that were received on or before June 11, 2012. The date of receipt is what is considered and not the date that the petition was postmarked. Any petition received after June 11, 2012 will be rejected.
H-1B visa applications by people in categories that do not come under any cap will continue to be accepted and processed. These are generally from the advanced degree holders who are cap-exempt. As of June 7, 2012, USCIS has already received 20,000 applications in this category.
Current H-1B visa holders are not subject to the FY 2013 cap and may have their petitions submitted on their behalf to:
- extend their period of stay in the US,
- change their current terms of employment,
- change their employer, and
- to take up a concurrent H-1B position.
