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January 31, 2011
2011 H-1B Cap
Has Been Reached
On January 27, 2011, the US
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that
for the fiscal year 2011 the agency has received more than
enough applications for new H-1B visas. This includes the
normal 65,000 quota (also called a "cap") and the
additional 20,000 quota for persons who have an advanced degree (more
than a bachelor degree) from a US university. USCIS will reject
cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers
seeking an employment start date in Fiscal Year 2011 that are
received after January 26, 2011. USCIS will apply a
computer-generated random selection process to all petitions that are
subject to the cap and were received on January 26, 2011.
The H-1B is a temporary work status used by US employers
for hiring foreign nationals to perform jobs which require a bachelor
degree or higher (professionals), and the employer must prove it will
pay the employee the same or more than a similar worker for a
comparable job in the geographic location. The government's fiscal
year runs from October 1st until September 30th. H-1B applications
can be filed up to 6 months before October 1st. USCIS will
accept petitions for Fiscal Year 2012 beginning on April 1, 2011 for
work that commences on October 1, 2011. For more on H-1B visas see the Clark Hill website.
Persons who have been issued an H-1B under a previous
cap and have not used all of their time on an H-1B (generally limited
to 6 years), or persons who work for or in furtherance of a US
university or an exempt research organization, are exempt from the
H-1B cap.
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