As of June 1, 2012, USCIS has received 55,600 H-1B cap eligibile petitions. The number has been rising by approximately 5,000 to 6,000 applications per week. The current annual cap on the H-1B category is 65,000. Accordingly, it appears that the H-1B cap will be met by mid to late June of 2012. Last year, the cap was reached in the last week of November. For the first time in several years, the cap will be reached prior to the October 1 visa issuance date.
The cap on H-1B Master's Degree Exemptions is also about to be reached. According to the June 1, 2012 posting, 18,700 of the 20,000 cap exempt applications have been filed.
Companies looking to hire foreign workers need to plan ahead for October of 2014. As the economy seems to be heating up and the demand for foreign workers increases, we might see a situation in 2014 where all of the visas are awarded to April 1, 2014 filers. Because it takes several months to have paperwork ready to file on April 1st, companies should start thinking about their hiring needs now.
If your company needs assistance in obtaining an H-1B visa for a prospective employee, please contact Hacking Immigration Law, LLC at (314) 961-8200 or by going to our contact page here.
