U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that
it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the
statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2012. USCIS is
notifying the public that Nov. 22, 2011, was the final receipt date
for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an
employment start date in FY 2012.
Properly filed cases will be considered received on the date
that USCIS physically receives the petition; not the date that the
petition was postmarked. USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions
for new H-1B specialty occupation workers seeking an employment
start date in FY 2012 that arrive after Nov. 22, 2011.
As of Oct. 19, 2011, USCIS had also received more than 20,000
H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under
the 'advanced degree' exemption. USCIS will continue to
accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the
cap. In addition, petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B
