H1B Cap Update
Posted May 25, 2001

As many readers of the MurthyBulletin are aware, the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21), enacted in 2000, significantly raised the annual quota of H1B workers, to 195,000 for fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003. Furthermore, under AC21, certain types of H1B workers are no longer counted against the cap. For more information on the changes in the way H1Bs are counted, refer to our October 27, 2000 MurthyBulletin article entitled How the October 2000 Law Raises the H1B Cap Beyond 195,000.

In previous years, when the H1B quota was filled as early as March or April of each fiscal year, companies scrambled to file petitions by December or January at the latest. (The fiscal year for INS runs from October 1 to September 30.) In contrast, this year the pressure has been off, so many people may not have noticed that INS has not been providing many updates on H1B usage.

We do have an update now. On May 16, 2001 we received word from the INS that as of March 7, 2001 INS had approved about 72,000 H1B petitions subject to the cap. Therefore, it appears likely that this year's quota will be sufficient to meet the demand for H1B workers.