H-1B Cap Count as of 07/27/2006
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption
The H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, which took effect on May 5, 2005, changed the H-1B filing procedures for FY 2005 and for future fiscal years. The Act also makes available 20,000 new H-1B visas for foreign workers with a Master’s or higher level degree from a U.S. academic institution.
| Cap | Beneficiaries Approved | Beneficiaries Pending | Beneficiary Target 1 | Total | Date of Last Count |
H-1B | 58,200 2 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 5/26/2006 |
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption | 20,000 | 7,258 | 12,132 | 21,000 | 19,390 | 7/26/20063 |
H-1B (FY 06) | 58,200 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 8/10/2005 |
H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption (FY 06) | 20,000 | —— | —— | —— | Cap Reached | 1/17/2006 |
1 Refers to the estimated number on April 1, 2006, of beneficiary applications needed to reach the cap, with an allowance for denials and revocations. This target is subject to revision later in the cap cycle as more petitions are processed.
2 6,800 visas are set aside during the fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements. Unused numbers in this pool can be made available for H-1B use with start dates beginning on October 1, 2006, the start of FY 2007. USCIS has added the projected number of unused H-1B1 Chile/Singapore visas to the FY 2007 H-1B cap as announced in the H-1B Press Release, dated June 1, 2006.
3 The numbers on the table for H-1B Advanced Degree Exemption include only receipted petitions. As of July 26, 2006, an estimated 655 I-129 H-1B petitions seeking the Advanced Degree exemption had yet to be receipted or entered into the C3 database. These petitions were received primarily on July 25 and 26, 2006.
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 