H-1B Visa Cap Reached for 2011
February 8, 2011
On Jan. 27, 2011, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for the 2011 fiscal year. The final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in 2011 was Jan. 26, 2011. Petitions that were received by January 26 will be considered for the visa using a random selection process. USCIS will reject H-1B petitions for workers seeking an employment start date in FY 2011 that arrived after Jan. 26, 2011.
The law limits or “caps” the number of foreign nationals who might be issued H-1Bs each fiscal year to 65,000.
H-1Bs are “temporary” work visas by which employers hire and retain highly skilled foreign workers, usually those working in the specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields such as accounting.
