Now is the time for employers to assess their FY2017 H-1B needs
and to start preparing their petitions for submission on
April 1.
On April 1, 2016, US Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) will begin accepting cap-subject H-1B petitions for fiscal
year 2017 with an employment start date of October 1, 2016. We
recommend that employers send all H-1B petitions subject to the
FY2017 cap to USCIS on March 31 so that USCIS receives them on
April 1. USCIS will reject any cap-subject H-1B petition that it
receives before April 1.
USCIS has a quota of 65,000 cap-subject H-1B visas each fiscal
year. A separate allotment of 20,000 H-1B visas is available to
foreign nationals who hold a master's degree or other advanced
degree from a US institution of higher education. As indicated in
the table below, demand for H-1B visas has fluctuated in past
years. A few years ago, it took months to reach the cap; recently,
in 2014 and 2015, the cap was reached within the first few
