H-1B Visa Cap for FY 2014 Has Been Reached!
Author: Melissa A. Silver, XpertHR Legal Editor
Employers seeking to hire individuals on an H-1B visa will have to wait until next April to file a petition. In just five days the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received enough H-1B visa petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for Fiscal Year 2014. In addition, USCIS announced that it received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
H-1B visas are available for individuals with a specialty occupation position, which is defined as a job that requires at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in the specialty.
After April 5, the USCIS will not be accepting any more H-1B petitions subject to the cap or the advanced degree exemption. Petitions received through April 5 will be selected using a random process (lottery).
Notably, the cap was reached two months earlier than last year.
Additional Resources
Form I-9 and Immigration Issues Resource Center
Obtain Visas When Employing Foreign Citizens
Recruiting and Hiring > Immigration, Form I-9 and Work Visas > Employing Non-US Citizens
International Payroll Issues > Taxing Aliens Who Work in the US