U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough H- 1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap for fiscal year 2005. Congress has set an annual H-1B cap of 65,000 of which 6,800 are set aside for the H-1B program under terms of the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements. The total H-1B cap number available for FY 2005 is therefore 58,200. USCIS has factored into its count of petitions subject to the FY 2005 cap the number of Chile/Singapore set-asides that were unused in FY 2004 and any other cases that can be counted against the previous fiscal year's H-1B cap rather than the FY 2005 cap. USCIS has received enough petitions to reach the limit for FY 2005 and will not accept any new H-1B petitions that are subject to the FY 2005 annual cap.
Petitions for current H-1B workers do not count towards the congressionally mandated H-1B cap. Accordingly, USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to:
- Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States
- Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers
- Allow current H-1B workers to change employers
- Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position
In order to avoid a year-long H-1B blackout, please contact your Senators and Representatives to urge them to support H-1B visas generally and, specifically, to support an increase in the cap number or at least an H-1B cap exemption for graduates of U.S. universities who have earned a Master's degree or higher. Call your elected officials via the Congressional switchboard (202-224- 3121) , or simply go to http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=5183421 to send a prepared letter to your Members of Congress with the push of a button.
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