Preparing for the H-1B Cap: April 1st Filings

Article by Tullio Capasso, William Coffman, Susan Cohen, Lorne Fienberg, Jeffrey Goldman, Marisa Howe, Daniel Maranci, Timothy Rempe and Reena Thadhani

Now is the time to try to finalize your recruiting plans for those who may need H-1B status for the first time. H-1B status is the most common means for a company employing professional workers to hire a foreign national, but our immigration system only allows for 65,000 new H-1B workers per fiscal year, which commences October 1st. This limit is known as the "H-1B cap." Two years ago the cap was reached on the very first day of the fiscal year, October 1, 2004, and last year the cap was met in early August 2005, more than a month before the fiscal year even started!