USCIS reaches H-1B visa cap for regular and master’s degree for FY2025
USCIS reaches H-1B visa cap for regular and master’s degree for FY2025
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-1B visa cap for regular and master’s degrees for the fiscal year 2025. In all, 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption are to be issued.
In the coming days, the USCIS will update registrants about theirH-1B visa status through their online accounts ‘myUSCIS’. Those not selected will see the status message, “Not Selected: Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration”, once the notification process is complete.USCIS
The deadline for filing H-1B cap subject petitions online was June 30, 2024.However, since June 30 was a Sunday, the USCIS announced that properly filed paper petitions received by July 1, 2024, would be accepted as timely submissions.Earlier this year,USCIS extended the initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap. The registration window, which opened on March 6, 2024, was extended to March 25, 2024.
The H-1B programme enables US employers to hire foreign workers temporarily on a non-immigrant basis for specialised roles or as fashion models with distinguished merit and ability. These specialised roles require advanced theoretical and practical expertise in a particular field, along with a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Eligible fields include sciences, medicine, healthcare, education, biotechnology, business, and more.USCIS
However, top US companies like Google, Amazon, Infosys, and IBM have sponsored fewer H-1B visas in 2024, according to USCIS data.H-1B visa holders are primarily from India, but this year’s data shows a decline in sponsorships by most major firms. For the fiscal year 2024, which runs from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, nearly all of the top 15 H-1B sponsoring companies reduced their approvals.
In fiscal 2023, Indian nationals made up 72.3% of the 386,000 H-1B visas issued, while Chinese nationals accounted for 11.7%.
Despite this, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2025 H-1B cap.USCIS Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka To Visit Violence-Hit Sambhal Amid No-Entry For Outsiders, Security Heightened At Borders
