USCIS Announces H-1B Cap Has Not Been Met

On April 8, 2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it is continuing to accept H-1B visa petitions that are subject to the fiscal year 2010 cap. Between April 1 and April 7, the agency received just under the 20,000 limit for U.S. master's cap cases and not quite half of the 65,000 limit for regular cap cases. All petitions received within that period will be counted toward the H-1B cap.

USCIS is issuing receipts for petitions already filed and will continue to accept petitions until it determines that the respective caps have been met. Once USCIS receives the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will notify the public that, as of a certain date—the "final receipt date"—the respective H-1B caps have been met. The final receipt date refers to the date that the USCIS physically receives a petition, not the postmark date. The date of announcement will not necessarily be the "final receipt date."

When USCIS determines that sufficient cap-subject petitions have been received, it will conduct a random lottery of petitions received on the final receipt date. Petitions not selected in the lottery or that arrive after the final receipt date will be rejected.

If a petition was filed under the USCIS's premium processing program, a program pursuant to which the agency will process certain petitions within 15 calendar days of receipt, the 15-day processing clock started on April 7, 2009.