US CIS Updates H-1B Petition Count for FY2010 - as of April 27, 2009

May 8th, 2009
Posted By
Laura Edgerton

The current economic situation appears to be driving down demand for H-1B visas this year as the H-1B cap was not hit during the preliminary filing window. USCIS reports that as of April 27th it had received approximately 45,000 H-1B petitions that count toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap.

Additionally, US CIS had received approximately 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities. However, CIS continues to accept advanced degree petitions as typically not all petitions received are approvable.

USCIS has also advised that should it receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue an update to inform the public that, as of a certain date (the "final receipt date"), the respective FY2010 H-1B caps have been met. The final receipt date will be based on the date CIS physically receives the petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked. The date or dates CIS informs the public that the caps have been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date. Therefore, we still recommend filing any H-1B cap-subject petitions as soon as possible to ensure the best chance of receiving an H-1B visa for FY10 (start date of October 1, 2009).
Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers, or those that have previously been counted against a cap, will generally not count toward the Congressionally-mandated FY2010 H-1B cap. Those petition types include:
  • extension of time for a current H-1B worker
  • changing terms of employment for a current H-1B worker
  • allowing a current H-1B worker to change employers
  • allowing a current H-1B worker to work concurrently in a second H-1B position
Categories: Immigration Blog