Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that 20,000 petitions have been counted toward the 20,000 advanced degree H-1B cap.? This 20,000 set aside is for individuals with U.S. masters, doctorate or other post-baccalaureate degrees.? This means that remaining cap-subject H-1B petitions will be counted against the regular cap of 65,000 regardless of the education level, assuming at least a bachelor’s degree.
As of today, 46,200 H-1B petitions have been counted against the regular cap, leaving approximately 18,800 H-1Bs left.? It should be noted that 6,800 are set aside for citizens of Chile and Singapore.? However, unused numbers from this pool are made available for the H-1B cap in the following year. ?Historically, only a small percentage of these 6,800 H-1Bs are used.
While a large portion of the H-1B cap remains, demand could increase as fewer and fewer H-1B numbers are available.? Last year was similar, with only a small percentage being used week by week.? But when USCIS announced that fewer than 10,000 H-1B numbers remained, the filing of new H-1B petitions surged and the cap was exhausted faster than many had anticipated.