You and your employer should take immediate action if you are planning to file a petition for a new H-1B visa for the next fiscal year.
- Foreign nationals who will be working for American companies upon graduation from U.S. colleges, and are on post-education employment authorization (which will expire prior to October 1, 2019).
- Foreign nationals who have not study in the U.S., but whose special skills and professional knowledge are in demand by U.S. companies.
Cap Amountsap for the H-1B category at 65,000.
- Not all H-1B nonimmigrant visas are subject to this annual cap.
- Please note that up to 6,800 visas are set aside from the 65,000 each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore free trade agreements. Unused visas in this group become available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year.
(source: USCIS) What Happened in 2017-18[/vc_message][vc_column_text]In April of 2017, the USCIS received about 199,000 new H-1B visa petitions. That’s more than two times the current total cap amount.
The USCIS uses a lottery system to select and evaluate petitions for processing. This is because of the high volume of petitions submitted each year. The rest of the received petitions are returned to the sponsoring companies. Related Reading
- U.S. Senators Propose to Double H-1 Visa Cap
- Salaries for Foreign Workers in the Top 30 Companies with Most H-1B Approved