Immigration Alert: H-1B Cap Update: Cap Not Yet Reached

4/9/2009

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that within the first five business days of April 2009, USCIS received almost half the petitions needed to meet the FY2010 cap of 60,000 and has received just short of the 20,000 needed to reach the master’s cap. On the day USCIS determines that sufficient petitions have been received to reach both caps, the USCIS will conduct a random selection lottery from among petitions received on that day.

Given this news that H-1B numbers are still available, we recommend that clients notify us as soon as possible regarding any new H-1B petitions to be filed under the FY2010 cap. While there are still visa numbers available, the quota may soon be reached. We will continue to update our clients as we receive news on the number of cap petitions received by USCIS.

For assistance in this area, please contact one of the attorneys listed below or any member of your Mintz Levin client service team.

Susan J. Cohen
(617) 348-4468
SCohen@mintz.com

Jeffrey W. Goldman
(617) 348-3025
JGoldman@mintz.com

Reena I. Thadhani
(617) 348-3091
RThadhani@mintz.com

Molly Carey
(617) 348-4461
MCarey@mintz.com

William L. Coffman
(617) 348-1890
WCoffman@mintz.com

Brian J. Coughlin
(617) 348-1685
BJCoughlin@mintz.com

Lorne M. Fienberg
(617) 348-3010
LFienberg@mintz.com

Marisa C. Howe
(617) 348-1761
MHowe@mintz.com

Bethany S. Mandell
(617) 348-4403
BSMandell@mintz.com

Timothy P. Rempe
(617) 348-1621
TRempe@mintz.com