June 11, 2012 was the last date to receive H-1B specialty occupation petitions for employment in the United States beginning in the Fiscal Year 2013. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has received enough number of H-1B petitions to reach the cap of 65,000 visas for FY 2013.
The petitions that are properly filed will be considered by the USCIS based on the date the USCIS received the petitions and not the postmarked date. Any cap-subjected petitions arriving after June 11, 2012 seeking employment with a start date in 2013 will be rejected.
USCIS will continue to accept petition that are not subject to any cap. 20,000 H-1B petitions filed by advanced degree holders, who are exempt from the cap, have already been received as on June 7, 2012 and USCIS will continue to accept petitions that are not subject to the cap.
Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers will not be counted towards the FY 3012 cap. These petitions will be accepted and processed by the USCIS to:
- extend period of stay in the US for current H-1B workers,
- change the H-1B worker’s current terms of employment,
- allow a change of employer for a current H-1B worker, and
- allow a current H-1B worker to take up a concurrent H-1B position.
Foreign workers hired by US employers to work in specialty occupations requiring expertise in specialized areas such as science, engineering and computer programming make use of the H-1B visas. The US employer may sponsor the H-1B worker for a green card. This is the green card through employment process.