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The H-1B Program

U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers.

For more information about the H-1B program, see the link to the left under temporary workers for H-1B Specialty Occupations, DOD Cooperative Research and Development Project Workers, and Fashion Models.

How USCIS Determines if an H-1B Petition is Subject to the FY 2011 Cap

 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) cap. USCIS will monitor the number of petitions received for both the 65,000 general cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption.

USCIS has received approximately 13,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap. The agency has received approximately 5,600 petitions for individuals with advanced degrees.

The initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap petitions will open at noon Eastern on March 6, 2024, and run through noon Eastern on March 22, 2024.

The initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap closes at noon Eastern on March 22, 2024. During this period, prospective petitioners and legal representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary. Online account users will also be able to collaborate on registrations and petitions with enhanced organizational account features in their online accounts.

Release Date 

03/21/2024

USCIS has extended the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap. The initial registration period, which opened at noon Eastern on March 6, 2024, and was originally scheduled to run through noon Eastern on March 22, 2024, will now run through noon Eastern on March 25, 2024. USCIS is aware of a temporary system outage experienced by some registrants, and is extending the registration period to provide additional time due to this issue.