In a brief statement issued on 7th April 2014 US immigration had the following to say 'USCIS announced today that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2015. USCIS has also received more than the limit of 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the U. S. advanced degree exemption'.
The H-1B temporary work visa allows foreign workers who are educated to bachelor's degree level (some applicants may be eligible for H-1B visas if they have achieved 'degree equivalence' through a mixture of work experience and qualifications) to apply for visas to work in a 'specialty occupation' in the US.
85,000 H-1Bs available annually
Each year, 65,000 H-1B visas are available for bachelor's degree graduates and a further 20,000 visas are available for applicants with higher degrees such as PhDs and other doctorates.
Each year, USCIS begins accepting applications on the 1st of April (or the first working day thereafter). It continues to accept applications for five working days each year. If, after five days, the cap has not yet been reached, it will continue to accept applications until the cap is reached.
If, however, after five days, sufficient applications to meet the cap have been received, USCIS stops accepting applications. If more applications are received than there are visas available, then USCIS holds either one or two ballots. The applications of those applicants selected in the ballots will then be processed and other applications will be discarded.
Two ballots
If necessary, USCIS holds two ballots; one for applicants with higher degrees and one for other applicants. This year, it will hold two ballots because both the caps have been exceeded.
It will firstly hold a ballot for the higher degree applicants. 20,000 applicants will have their applications processed. All those who are not successful will be entered into the second ballot along with the bachelor's degree applicants. The second ballot will then be held and 65,000 applications will be selected. All others will be discarded.
Last year was the first year for some time that the H-1B applications cap was reached within five working days. USCIS received 124,000 applications in the first five days and held two ballots to distribute the visas.
Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United States. Please visit our USA page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/usa.html
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