United States: FY 2010 H-1B Usage Continues to Climb Higher, as 900 New Cap Filings Are Reported
United States: FY 2010 H-1B Usage Continues to Climb Higher, as 900 New Cap Filings Are Reported
The latest report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that H-1B cap usage continues to move more rapidly towards the annual quota for the year. Employers can still file H-1B petitions for employment in fiscal 2010, but should plan on filing quickly.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that it has now received approximately 54,700 H-1B filings against the annual quota for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. Though cap numbers are still available, usage continues to increase more rapidly and is approaching the annual quota for the year. Employers can still file both standard and advanced-degree cases, but all newly filed cases will be counted against the standard H-1B cap because USCIS has already received enough cases to fill the pool of 20,000 advanced-degree cases for the current year.
According to USCIS’s latest statistics, it has received an additional 900 cap-subject filings since its last report one week ago. In total, the agency has reported an increase in cap usage of nearly 8,000 in recent weeks, after only modest upticks between April and September.
There are several reasons for the sudden acceleration in usage, including upcoming December graduations, increases in hiring generally, and the complexity of USCIS’s methods for counting cases against the standard and advanced-degree quotas. These factors make it difficult to predict the pace of future cap usage, and continued rapid increases in usage are possible. For these reasons, we continue to advise employers to file quickly to meet H-1B needs for the current year and begin planning for the FY 2011 filing season, which begins in just a few months, on April 1, 2010.
H-2B Numbers Still Available
Employers can still file cap-subject H-2B temporary nonagricultural work petitions for employment start dates through March 31, 2010, the first half of the current fiscal year. As of November 6, USCIS had received filings for 21,327 H-2B beneficiaries. Of these, 19,736 had been approved and 1,591 cases were pending.
USCIS has set a target of 47,000 cap-subject H-2B petition beneficiary receipts to meet the 33,000 cap for the first half of the fiscal year. USCIS uses a target figure to account for cases that are ultimately denied, withdrawn or revoked, as well as cases in which employers actually employ fewer H-2B workers than requested in their petitions. The target figure can change as the fiscal year progresses.
Click here for USCIS’s full statistical report.
Source: Fragomen