New England Biz Law Update
The yearly quota for H-1B visas has been reached for fiscal year 2023.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accepts petitions for H-1B visa and H-1B visa advanced degree applicants. The H-1B visa cap for fiscal 2023 is 65,000 and the H-1B visa advanced degree cap is 20,000.
Employers submitted 483,927 petitions for the coming fiscal year, and USCIS chose 127,600 of them to reach the quota.
To plan for employers who don’t end up completing the entire petition process and cases that are withdrawn or denied, USCIS chooses more petitions than the intended cap.
The agency has been sending “non-selection” notices to applicants’ online accounts due to the quota being met.
There are several areas for which the H-1B visa cap doesn’t apply, including extensions of stay, changes of employer, amended petitions and other employment that is exempt from the annual quota. USCIS will continue to accept employment petitions in these areas.
Employers will have the opportunity to register foreign workers who were not selected for an H-1B visa this cycle in the spring of 2023.
