Washington, April 01: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would from today accept receiving petitions for H-1B visa applications — the most sought after US work visa by Indian IT professionals ? for the fiscal 2011 beginning October 1, 2010.
As mandated by the US Congress, the fiscal year cap (numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for 2011 is 65,000.
Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the H-1B cap.
The USCIS has not announced any cutoff date for accepting the visa petitions; as was the practice till the year before when the US agency used to receive applications several times the number mandated by the Congress and had to resort to computerized draw of lots to identify successful applicants.
–PTI