A federal agency has stated that the US has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa ceiling for fiscal year 2022.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US businesses to hire foreign workers in specialised vocations that require theoretical or technical knowledge. Technology firms rely on it to hire tens of thousands of workers from countries such as India and China each year. The H-1B visa programme is the most popular among international professionals, particularly Indians, who want to work in the United States.
Earlier US congress has capped H-1B visa
The US Congress has required that the US award a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas per year under the ordinary ceiling and 20,000 H-1B visas under the US advanced degree exemption categories.
For fiscal year (FY) 2022, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which screens all such applications each year, announced on Monday that it has received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.
“Non-selection notices have been sent to registrants’ online accounts. The following is the status of registrations that were duly submitted for the FY 2022 H-1B numerical allocations but were not selected: Not Selected: “Based on this registration, you are not qualified to file an H-1B cap petition,” it stated.
According to the USCIS, petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap will continue to be accepted and processed. “Petitions filed for current H-1B employees who have been counted against the cap previously and still have their cap number are exempt from the FY 2022 H-1B cap,” the government agency stated.
Meanwhile, the USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions to extend an existing H-1B worker’s stay in the US, amend the terms of their employment, allow current H-1B employees to move employers, and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in multiple H-1B positions.
While the Congressional cap is 65,000, this annual cap does not apply to all H-1B nonimmigrant visas (or status awards). Under the terms of the legislation implementing the US-Chile and US-Singapore free trade agreements, up to 6,800 visas are put aside from the 65,000 available each fiscal year for the H-1B1 programme. This group’s unused visas become eligible for H-1B use in the following fiscal year’s standard H-1B cap.