Home > Legal Updates >

USCIS Releases Updated Information on Filed H-1B Petitions

On July 28, 2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released updated information on H-1B non-immigrant visa petitions for Fiscal Year 2010 (beginning October 1, 2009), stating that as of July 24, 2009, it has received only 44,900 of the 65,000 H-1B non-immigrant visa petitions needed to meet the H-1B regular cap, but almost all of the visa petitions needed to meet the U.S. master's degree cap of 20,000.

The government began accepting petitions on April 1.  This is the first time in recent years that the government has not received the necessary number of petitions to meet the cap within the first week.  The cap for H-1B visas was reached in the first five business days in 2008 and in the first two days in 2007, according to USCIS statistics.

Current holders of H-1B visas are not affected by the cap.  USCIS will continue to process petitions to:

• Extend the stay of current H-1B holders;
• Change the terms of employment of current H-1B holders;
• Allow current H-1B holders to change employers, unless the change involves a switch from a cap-exempt to a non-exempt employer;
• Allow current H-1B holders to obtain concurrent employment authorization with another employer;
• Work at exempt entities, such as institutions of higher education and related/affiliated organizations; or
• Allow J-1 physicians who have obtained a waiver of the home country residency requirement through the Conrad program, or similar federal programs, to change status to H-1B.

For more information or assistance with visa programs, contact the Jackson Lewis Global Immigration Practice Group.