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Beginning on 01 October, 2006, beneficiaries of several visa classes for the United States will be permitted to begin work (the start of FY 2007). Some of the available categories have reached their caps, while several categories still have available positions for visa applications.
The most popular and commonly known category is the H1-B visa. It is designed for foreign workers with advanced degrees (usually a Master's or higher) to work for up to six years for positions unfilled by American workers. 66,000 are issued every year under current legislation.
As of 16 May, 2006, 6,465 applications had been approved with 32,980 pending approval. This leaves approximately 26,000 applications that could still be submitted and approved prior to 01 October. The US usually fills all these available positions every year.
The H2-B visa is designed to be used to fill temporary worker peak demand. Often the work is seasonal, but it may also fulfil other temporary demand in industry for various reasons.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that all H-2B visa applications approved at this time have fulfilled the cap for FY 2006. 66,000 of these are issued every year, 33,000 for each fiscal half.
As of 04 April, no further petitions for this category will be accepted or processed. Historically, caps set for H2-B visas were not met. Recently, H-2B caps have been reached by the beginning of their respective fiscal periods.
Persons wishing to apply for an H-2B visa at this time must apply for the first half of fiscal Year 2007. Current H2-B holders may still file a petition to extend their current visas, which do not apply toward the caps.
