H-1B SEASON FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013 BEGINS APRIL, 2, 2012

Monday April 2, 2012 marks the first day of the cap filing season for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 H-1B petitions.  The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin receiving  H-1B petitions on that date.   However, the earliest an H-1B cap subject employee may start his employment in FY 2013 is October 1, 2012.

At this time, there is no telling when the standard H-1B cap of 65,000 will be reached for FY 2013. To be safe, employers should file their cap-subject H-1B petitions as soon as possible based upon their hiring needs for the upcoming fiscal year. While the cap was met only a few months ago for FY 2012, it is widely anticipated that FY 2013 will see a much higher volume of H-1B cap petitions in the early going, as evidenced by the speed in which the H-1B cap numbers were reached towards the end of the FY 2012 filing period. Considering the higher level of H-1B filings by employers in the past, before the economic downturn, it is believed that high levels of H-1B filings will resume for the upcoming fiscal year, as the economy continues to improve.

If your organization is contemplating hiring employees in the near future, who are subject to the    H-1B cap, it is imperative to move quickly and contact your immigration attorney as soon as possible so that the H-1B cap is not reached before you have filed.