H1B Cap Reached for FY 2000 Cases
Posted Jul 31, 2000

The INS has announced, as of July 26, 2000, that the H1B cap has been reached, meaning that they have approved the 115,000^th case for the current fiscal year. The INS has confirmed that only those H1B Petitions filed on or before March 17, 2000 have been issued H1B Petition approvals against this fiscal year’s H1B quota.

The INS believes that another 29,500 cases did not make it into this year's H1B cap, and will be applied against the next fiscal year's caseload, for October 1, 2000 start dates. It is also possible that a small number of additional cases may obtain fiscal year (FY) 2000 approvals, if some of the already approved H1B cases are revoked.

If you are an employer who obtained an H1B approval for a person who then decided not to join your company, or if you withdrew the offer for the H1B prospective employee, it is vitally important to inform the INS, so that the space in this year's H1B quota can be used for someone else.

Please note that as stated in earlier editions of the MurthyBulletin, the H1B cap amount for FY 2001 will be 107,500, unless Congress enacts legislation to increase the allocation. The INS plans to begin processing FY2001 cases in August 2000.