The 2019 Fiscal Year cap is reached!
No new cap subject H1B petitions can be filed till April 1st, 2019.
Due to huge demand for higly qualified workers in the United States and limitation on available alternative visa categories for such workers and numerical limitations imposed on H1B petitions, this visa category is generally oversubsribed.
New CAP EXEMPT petitions can still be filed. H1B petition numbers are fixed by the Congress for each Fiscal Year. A total of 65,000 regular quota and 20,000 advanced degree H1B petitions are accepted each Fiscal Year i.e. a period of one year starting October 1st through September 30th of the following year.
Employers can hire as many h1b workers each Fiscal Year until the numerical limit, also known as cap, is reached. Cap, in the past years, has been reached within the first five days of the application filing period.
Immigration regulations allow regular or cap subject h1b petitions to be filed as early as April 1st of each year for work starting October 1st of that year i.e. the start of the Fiscal Year. H1b filings are accepted for the five business days starting April 1st. If the H1b category is oversubscribed during this time, no further cap subject petitions could be filed. USCIS establishes a process for selecting the allowed number of petitions and has placed a lottery selection process.
There are some H1B positions that are exempt from h1b cap and can be petitioned anytime. Contact us if you are not sure whether your H1 position is cap exempt.
Preparing a successful H1B petition is a time consuming process and should be well documented for approval. Planning and preparation could start as early as possible.