H1B Master's Cap Numbers Depleting Quickly
Posted Dec 16, 2005

See the late-breaking update on these figures in our NewsFlash! Latest Cap Update - Dec 09, 2005.
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As the H1B advanced degree cap nears being reached, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is providing more frequent updates. The most recent count was issued on December 9, 2005 and included cases filed through December 5, 2005. As of this recent count, there were only 2,933 H1Bs remaining in this annual special allocation of 20,000 H1B cases for persons with U.S. masters' degrees or higher.
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The previous count was issued less than a week before this latest announcement, and was discussed in our December 9, 2005 MurthyBulletin article, USCIS Update on Master's Cap Numbers, available on MurthyDotCom. The fact that there are only 2,933 numbers left, as compared to the last count of 3,302, means that an additional 369 cases were filed in the six days since the last count. If this rate continues, these numbers may not last until the end of December 2005, let alone being available until September 30, 2006, the last day of this fiscal year.
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H1B petitions can be filed up to six months in advance of the start date. This means, for example, that an H1B case could be filed in December 2005 with a start date in June 2006. This is useful for many of the May 2005 graduates who have one year of optional practical training (OPT) that would normally end in June, July, or August 2006. This filing will only be possible, however, for one with a U.S. master's degree, if the master's cap has not been reached on the date the H1B petition is filed, not the start date of the H1B petition approval.