Beginning April 1, 2014, USCIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions that
are subject to the fiscal year 2015 annual cap. These applications will
be considered accepted, USCIS states, on the day that the federal agency
receives a properly filed petition accompanied by the correct fee. The
postmark date will not be used to define date of receipt.
A total of 65,000 cap-subject H-1B visas will be made available for
FY2015. The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of individuals with a
U.S. master’s degree or higher will be exempt from this annual cap.
USCIS expects that it will receive more than enough petitions to reach
this annual cap by April 7, 2014 and plans to utilize a random selection
process to meet the numerical limit of 65,000.
