First Quarter Fiscal Year 2002 H1B Processing Figures
Posted Mar 15, 2002

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) announced recently that approximately 28,000 H1B petitions were approved between October 1, 2001 and December 31, 2001. This time period is the first quarter of the INS fiscal year (FY). The limit (cap) for FY 2002 is 195,000. According to the figures released, the INS has approximately 18,000 pending H1B petitions.

As MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers may be aware, not all pending or H1B petitions for extension will be counted toward the cap. For example, cases filed for persons who are in valid H-1 status do not count toward the cap. There are also exemptions based upon the potential employer. Exempt employers include colleges / universities and non-profit, research organizations. Of those cases that are subject to the cap, some could be denied.

In the first quarter of FY 2002, the INS received approximately 54,000 cases. This is a decrease of approximately 58% from the last fiscal year (FY 2001). However, some of this reduction is attributable to the disproportionately large number of cases having been filed in the first quarter of that year, due to an increase in the required "training fee" at the time. (The fee was increased from $500 to $1,000 in December 2000, i.e. at the end of first quarter of FY 2001.)

According to these figures, it appears that there is no immediate danger of reaching the H1B cap in this fiscal year, which runs through September 30, 2002.