US H-1B visa cap reached for the FY 2011

United States, 3rd February: The US H-1B visa quota for the fiscal year 20911 has been reached, stated the US immigration department.
Speaking about the statutory cap, the USCIS (UC Citizenship and Immigration Services) stated that acceptance of applications for the US H-1B visa has been closed.

Hence, no more US H-1B visas will be issued to applicants wanting to work in the US in the year 2011.
January 26, 2011 was the last data for receiving applications for new US H-1B specialty occupation for an employment beginning date in the fiscal year 2011.

The annual quota for the US H-1B visas has been fixed at 65,000.
US H-1B visas are the most popular US visas for getting work in the US. These visas are issued to individuals possessing specialist skills. Any one granted a US H-1B visa from the US immigration department is entitled to live and work in the US for a maximum period of up to six years.
Under this category of non-immigrant US visa, US firms can give employment to foreign workers in the category of specialty occupations (like IT) for a temporary period.

The fact that the annual cap for the fiscal year 2011 has been filled while several months still remaining in the current year reiterates a high demand for highly educated workers. US employers who failed to file the petitions for US H-1B visas will have to seek alternatives for finding the required foreign nationals or keep the job openings remain vacant until 1st October 2011.

What is meant by US H-1B visa cap

A few years ago, the US immigration had set the US H-1B visa cap at 195,000. However, with effect from 1st October 2003, the annual cap was reduced to 65,000. Out of this total annual quota, Chile and Singapore nationals are allocated a total of 6,800 US H-1B visas in accordance with the trade agreements with these nations.

Hence, the annual quota available for citizens of nations other than the above named countries comes out to be 58,200.

In addition, a bonus quota of 20,000 US H-1B visas has been reserved for foreign nationals possessing a US Master’s degree or other higher qualifications. So, the first 20,000 petitions for US H-1B received by the USCIS for seeking employment in the fiscal year 20911 will be exempt from the annual quota of regular US H-1B cap.

This bonus quota will be available from 1st October 2011 onwards up and applications can be submitted up to six months before the stipulated date, i.e. April 1, 2011.

In the fiscal year 2010, the USCIS had received the Master’s annual quota within a record span of two weeks after opening on 1st April while the regular cap did not fill until 21st December 2009.


Who are exempt from the annual US H-1B cap—?

All new workers recruited in the US H-1B status are subject to the annual visa cap, unless they have been exempt from the cap. Following are exempt from the annual cap

• Persons currently holding status of H-1B and seeking extension;

• An H-1B employee is allowed to move to another employer without making use of an H-1B cap number;

• Those who had previously held the status of H-1B are allowed to regain the same without making use of an H-1B cap number.

• Nonprofit research organization, higher education institutes and government research organizations are also exempt from such cap.


Harleen Kaur is a freelance content writer with an experience of nearly 7 years in content writing. A Masters in English language, she joined the editorial team of Canada Updates as a writer in 2009.
To get updates about website subsribe for Newslater