USCIS announced today that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions
subject to the Fiscal Year 2014 annual cap on April 1, 2013. Petitions
will be considered accepted on the date that USCIS receives a properly
filed petition (which includes the correct fee), and not the date that
the petition was postmarked as delivered.
The annual cap for FY 2014 is 65,000, Additionally, the first 20,000
H-1B petitions filled on behalf of people with a U.S. master’s degree or
higher will be considered exempt from the 65,000 limitation. According
to initial feedback, USCIS expects that it will receive more petitions
than required to fulfill the annual cap between April 1, 2013, and April
5, 2013. USCIS intends to closely monitor the numbers of petitions
received; it will notify the public of the date on which the numerical
limit of the FY 2013 H-1B cap has been met.
