USCIS Announces FY 2010 H1B Cap Reached As of 12/21/09

As everyone expected the H-1B cap would be reached soon, USCIS just announced today (12/22/2009) that the H-1B visa cap was reached yesterday on 12/21/2009. USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B petitions received after December 21, 2009. Some cap subject cases received on December 21, 2009 will go into a computer-generated random selection process. Congress really needs to do something about this. H-1B blackout is until next October (2010).

H-1B CAP COUNT UPDATE FOR DECEMBER 15, 2009 - AT 64,200

Quick update on the H-1B count that USCIS just issued for December 15 - 2 days ago - it's at 64,200 right now and about to run out in a matter of a few days probably.

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR DEC. 8 -- AT 61,500

4 days later, USCIS sent an additional update on the cap - it advanced to 61,500 or 400 additional petitions who have been approved in 4 days... yes, the cap is running out shortly...

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR DEC. 4 -- AT 61,100

USCIS has received approximately 61,100 cap-subject H-1B petitions as of December 4, 2009. With the additional number of 2,000-3,000 reserved to Singaporean and Chilean citizens under the free trade agreement, the cap will be reached within the next 2,000-3,000 petitions. A week or two or maybe more.... it's going to be reached soon.

NOVEMBER 20 H-1B CAP UPDATE - AT 56,900

A weekly update from USCIS reveals that as of November 20, 2009, approximately 56,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. Less than 8,000 left....

FEDS PLAN 25,000 ON-SITE H-1B INSPECTIONS

Computerworld reported this week that U.S. immigration officials are taking H-1B enforcement from the desk to the field with a plan to conduct 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers over this fiscal year. Also, this move marks a nearly five-fold increase in inspections over last fiscal year, when the agency conducted 5,191 site visits under a new site inspection program.
We all know that USCIS hired contractors and started this enforcement verification, but now many clients receive site visits. They appear to be random, even public schools and such organizations are receiving these site visits. This 25,000 inspection benchmark means that approximately 1 in every 3 H-1B petitions will receive a site visit, a significant number. How many violations have been or will be discovered by this remains to be seen.

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR FY2010 -- AT 55,600

USCIS just issued an update of the H-1B cap count for fiscal year 2010 (present year) -- as of November 13, 2009, approximately 55,600 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H-1B petitions for foreign nationals with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap, so all the remaining filings will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000. It's now down to the last 10,000 H-1Bs, or a bit less, so hurry up if you intend to file.