On November 22, 2011, USCIS received enough H-1B visa petitions to reach
its statutory cap for Fiscal Year 2012. On October 19, 2011, the
federal agency received over 20,000 H-1B petitions on behalf of
candidates who met the advanced degree exemption. USCIS has noted that
it will now reject all cap-subject petitions received after November 22,
2011, for New H-1B workers seeking an employment start date in Fiscal
Year 2012. The agency will, however, continue to accept cap-exempt
petitions, DOD petitions and Chile/Singapore H-1B1 petitions requesting a
start date in Fiscal Year 2012.