Immigration Attorney
Services & Fees

8/20/2004

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) reports that, as of August 4, 2004, the agency has received 40,000 petitions subject to the H-1B cap for FY 2005, which begins on October 1, 2004.

21,000 of these petitions have been approved and the rest are pending adjudication.

The H-1B cap for FY 2005 is 65,000, but is really even lower. The Chile and Singapore Free Trade Agreements allot 1,400 H-1B visa numbers to Chile and 5,400 H-1B visa numbers to Singapore, resulting in a deduction of 6,800 visas from the 65,000 count.

What this means:

This information indicates that it is very possible that the H-1B numerical limit for FY 2005 will be reached prior to October 1, 2004.

Therefore, we recommend filing cap-subject cases as soon as possible with a request for premium processing.

The numerical limit does not apply to H-1B extension of stay or change of employer petitions, H-4 extension of stay petitions, or to H-1B petitions filed by institutions of higher education and nonprofit government and research organizations.


If you (The Employer) can answer YES to any of the following questions, then your petition IS NOT subject to the annual quota:


• Are you an institution of higher education as defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965, section 101(a), 20 U.S.C. section 1001(a)?
  
  
• Are you a nonprofit organization or entity related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education, as such institutions of higher education are defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965, section 101(a), 20 U.S.C. section 1001(a)?
  
  
• A nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization, as defined in 8 CFR 214.2(h)(19)(iii)(C)?
  
  
• Is the beneficiary of this petition a J-1 nonimmigrant alien who received a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency requirement described in section 214(1)(1)(B) of the Act?
  
  
• Has the beneficiary of this petition been previously granted status as an H-1B nonimmigrant in the past 6 years and not left the U.S. for more than a year after attaining such status?