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USCIS Announces H-1B Cap for 2007 Reached Friday, May 26, 2006


June 1, 2006

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that the H-1B cap for Fiscal Year 2007 was reached on Friday, May 26, 2006. This means that applications that were received prior to that date are included under the cap. Applications received on May 26, 2006 will be subject to a computer-generated random selection process which will enable the USCIS to apply the remaining number of available H-1B visas to petitions received that day. Any cap-subject H-1B applications received on May 26, 2006 that are not randomly selected and those received after May 26, 2006 will be rejected and returned with the filing fees. The rejected applications may be resubmitted when H-1B visas become available for Fiscal Year 2008. The earliest date that a petition may be filed for H-1B employment under the Fiscal Year 2008 cap is April 1, 2007, for an employment start date of October 1, 2007.

Petitions filed for current H-1B employees do not count towards the H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:

  1. Extend the amount of time a current H-1B employee may remain in the U.S.
  2. Change the terms of employment for a current H-1B employee.
  3. Allow current H-1B employees who were previously counted under the cap to change employers.
  4. Allow current H-1B employees who were previously counted under the cap to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.
 

Of the 20,000 H-1Bs numbers which are available for persons holding U.S. advanced degrees (Masters or higher) and are under a separate cap, 5,830 cases have been filed as of May 25, 2006. The earliest employment start date for the advanced degree petitions is October 1, 2006.

Also, H-1B petitions for employees who will be employed at institutions of higher education or related or affiliated nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organizations, or governmental research organizations are exempt from the H-1B cap. Petitions which fall under this exempt category may be filed for current employment start dates.