INS Finally Provides Actual Count of H1B Usage
Posted Mar 17, 2000

INS has provided its first update for this fiscal year as to the actual number of petitions granted towards the current (FY 2000) cap. The INS announced this week that, as of February 15, 2000, about 67,000 cases were approved toward the FY 2000 cap, and about 44,000 cases were pending at the INS Service Centers.

INS has not analyzed how many of the pending cases are H1B cap cases, but one would assume that a substantial number of these filed are for those already in H1B status. As can be expected, the INS did not comment on its audit of the FY 1999 counting procedures, or mention whether they still believe that they over-allocated H-1Bs in FY 1999.