USCIS announced that it received roughly 22,000 petitions for cap-subject H-1B nonimmigrant visas in the first four days after which the agency began accepting applications. According to USCIS spokesperson, Bill Wright, the agency received “approximately 22,000 H-1B petitions for the fiscal 2013 beginning October 1 this year.” The petitions received were for the Congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas in the general category and another 20,000 H-1B visas in the advanced degree exemption category.
The amount of petitions received is much greater than what was seen in previous years, For example, in 2011, in the first week, only 5,900 petitions for the general category and 4,500 petitions toward the advanced degree exemption cap were received. The H-1B visa is used by U.S. businesses to employ highly skilled foreign nationals in specialty fields such as science, engineering, and computer technology. |
