H1B petitions to be accepted starting April 1

From the 1st of April this year the US Citizenship and Immigration Services is to start accepting brand new cap subject H-1B petitions.  The quota is for as many as 65,000 H-1B US visas intended for foreign nationals as well as an additional 20,000 for any individuals who are in possession of master’s degrees, but it is anticipated that this quota will be completely exhausted by as early as the middle of this May.

Even though a set quota of 20,000 visas, which have been designated for people who hold a master’s degree –  or higher qualifications – is already in existence, once they too have been completely exhausted, it is expected that petitions will end up being taken out of the standard quota of 65,000.

This means that employers who would rather not miss out on this kind of opportunity are likely to start sending in their H-1B petitions as of the 29th of March in order to make absolutely certain that their paperwork will have been stamped by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau on the same day that the filing season actually commences.  The brand new cap subject H-1B petitions are to begin on the 1st of October this year.  Employees need to have university degrees or the equivalent in work experience in order to be in accordance with the work status regulations of the H-1B visa.

Before this year H-1B visas have been claimed at increasingly fast rates and it is anticipated that this trend will continue.