DEMAND FOR H-1B VISA INCREASING RAPIDLY

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated the cap count for H-1B nonimmigrant work visa for FY2010. As of October 30, 2009, the USCIS had already received approximately 53,800 H-1B cap-subject petitions. For applicants with advanced degrees, the agency has approved sufficient H1-B petitions to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. Therefore, all future petitions filed on behalf of advanced-degree holders will be counted toward the general H1-B cap of 65,000.

Demand for H-1B Increased Rapidly: Although there are still H-1B visa numbers available as of now, it is important to note the demand for them has increased rapidly during the past month or so. To put the numbers in perspective, during the months of April and May, the number of H-1B regular-cap petitions filed with the USCIS was about 45,000. These numbers have not changed much during the months of July and August. As of August 28, the USCIS announced that only 45,100 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. In fact, as late as September 25, 2009, the H-1B regular-cap count was still kept at 46,700, and the USCIS still was accepting petitions filed on behalf of advanced-degree applicants.

However, by late October the situation had changed suddenly. On October 25, the USCIS reported that it had received 52,800 H-1B cap-subject petitions. And the 20,000 advanced degree visa cap was closed. This is significant for both regular-cap cases and advanced degree cases. For the advanced degrees, the USCIS had already received more than 20,000 petitions as early as April. However, based of past experience, a percentage of these petitions would be denied, withdrawn, or abandoned at the end. Therefore, the agency continued to accept applications filed on behalf of advanced degree holders. Apparently, things had changed in the past month or so. The USCIS had the opportunity to actually review and adjudicate most of the advanced degree petitions and decided that more than 20,000 are approvable. In fact, many if not all of them have probably been approved. Therefore, the advanced degree visa cap is no longer available.

Regarding the regular cap cases, the situation is not much better. During the month between September 25 and October 25, the number of H-1B cap-subject petitions “received” had increased by about 6,100, as reported by the USCIS. Although the improvement in economic conditions in the U.S. could have explained some increases in the filing of H-1B petitions, the 6,100 increase in number may not have been all attributable to new filings by employers. Another plausible interpretation of the change is that many petitions filed previously had been reviewed and adjudicated by USCIS, and found to be approvable. The result is a sharp decrease in H-1B visa availability.

Conclusion: The good news is that USCIS will continue to accept H-1B petitions for all applicants until the statutory limit of 65,000 is reached. The USCIS is still mindful that some of these may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn at the end. However, it is difficult to say how fast the remaining 10,000 or so H-1B visa numbers will be used up. For those employers who need H-1B professional employees to work for them, and for those applicants who need H-1B status to work in the U.S., they should be filing their petitions as soon as possible before it’s too late. Otherwise, they would have to wait until the next fiscal year which will start on April 1, 2010 to file their petitions. For some F-1 students who are in OPT status, they may not be able to wait that long.