Get Ready To Submit The 2015 H-1B Visa Petitions

18 Jan 2014

All the skilled professionals who wish to work in the United States must be aware of the H-1B Visa and its capping system. This is a reminder for the submission of the fast approaching deadline of 1^st April, 2014 to file the H-1B visa petitions for the Fiscal Year 2015.

Though USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) will start accepting applications from 1^st April, 2014, the processing of the 2015 petitions will commence on 1^st October, 2014.

The USCIS will keep accepting new H-1B visa petitions from 1^st April, 2014, only until the H-1B visa cap is reached. Employers need to identify the employees who may need H-1B sponsorship as soon as possible as this year, it is expected that the cap will be reached rather quickly.

As a result of the improvement and growth in the overall economic conditions over the past year, it is anticipated that the H-1B Visa cap will be reached in just the first week of April. New H-1B Visa petitions will not be accepting by any employer after the H-1B visa cap has been reached.

According to the numerical cap placed on the H-1B Visa petitions placed by the Congress, only 65,000 H-1B Visa petitions will be accepted for the Fiscal Year 2015. For individuals who have obtained a Master’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. educational institution, additional 20,000 Visas are available.

The quota H1-B Visa quota for the Fiscal Year 2014 which was opened on 1^st April, 2013 has been reached by 5^th April, 2013, i.e., in just 5 days. As there is no way to predict the period by which the H-1B Visa petition quota will be exhausted, employers are advised to make the decisions about their H-1B sponsorship within the next few weeks.

Preparing H-1B Visa petitions as early as possible is important, and this must be done before the 1^st of April so that a complete H1-B Visa petition can be submitted to USCIS as soon as the quota opens on the first day.