Employers who wish to sponsor H-1B workers for Fiscal Year 2017
can begin filing petitions on April 1, 2016
for a start date of October 1, 2016. The H-1B visa is used by
businesses who wish to employ foreign nationals to work in a
specialty occupation requiring theoretical or technical expertise.
For FY 2017, cases will be considered accepted on the date that
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) takes possession
of the petition, not on the date it was postmarked.
Annual Limit
There is an annual limit of 65,000 visas available for H-1B
petitions, with an additional 20,000 reserved for individuals who
have earned a U.S. master's degree or higher. USCIS received
over 233,000 last year and expect an even greater number this year.
USCIS accepted petitions for the first five business days before
announcing that it had received a sufficient number of H-1B
petitions and that the cap was closed. Although USCIS will again
accept applications for the first five
