H-1B Cap to Open for 2011 on April 1, 2010
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin to accept H-1B visa petitions on April 1, 2010 for an October 1, 2010 start date. The availability of new H-1B visas is limited numerically to 65,000 each calendar year. Please note that 6,800 of this total quota number are set aside for citizens of Chile and Singapore under Free Trade agreements with these countries. In addition, there is an additional quota of 20,000 new H-1B visas available to foreign nationals who hold graduate degrees from U.S. institutions. Because USCIS received more applications than there were visas available for fiscal years 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 within a few days of the cap opening, and for the 2010 fiscal year the cap was hit in December 2009, we recommend that clients consider their needs as soon as possible and be prepared to file on the first available date - April 1, 2010.
