Support migrant centric journalism today and donate
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has received its congressionally-mandated limit for H-1B applications for FY2005. No more H-1B applications subject to the FY2005 cap will be accepted.
The annual cap has been set at 65,000 petitions, including 6,800 of which are reserved under the H-1B program for the US - Chile and US - Singapore Free Trade Agreement allocations.
USCIS will, for the rest of FY2005, follow the procedures defined in the notice of February 25, 2004 Federal Register at 69 FR8675, which addresses the FY2004 cap. These include:
- USCIS will process all petitions filed for first-time employment received by the end of business day, October 1
- USCIS will return all petitions for first-time employment, subject to the annual cap, received after the end of the business day on October 1
- Returned petitions will be accompanied by the filing fee
- Petitioners may re-submit their petitions when H-1B visas become available for FY2006
- The earliest date a petitioner may file a petition requesting FY2006 H-1B employment with an employment start date of October 1, 2005, would be April 1, 2005
This will not affect those currently working under the H-1B visa program. Therefore, petitions filed by current H-1B visa holders will be processed to:
- Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the US
- Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers
- Allow current H-1B workers to change employers
- Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position
Exceptions to the new H-1B cap restrictions are those seeking employment at institutions of higher education or related non-profit entities, or with a non-profit research or governmental research organization.
