Special Immigration Alert: H-1B Filings Update

As of May 5, 2012, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 32,200 petitions that count against the 65,000 H-1B Regular Cap, and 13,700 petitions that count against the 20,000 H-1B Master's Cap. USCIS will continue to accept new petitions until it has filled the H-1B Regular and Master's Caps

We anticipate that the pace of H-1B submissions will now quicken because, among other reasons, foreign students working in F-1 Optional Practical Training status are receiving degrees, thus allowing their employers to sponsor them for the H-1B classification. Therefore, we strongly advise employers to identify, and promptly file, any petitions subject to the H-1B Cap — including petitions of L-1B employees who may need to switch to H-1B status to extend their authorized stay due to delays in the green card process. Any foreign national candidates who do not make it under the 2013 H-1B Cap may not be able to start work, or continue working, until October 1, 2013 — or later!

For more information, or if you have questions regarding how this situation might affect you, your employees, or your organization, please contact one of the following members of the Immigration Law Group at Epstein Becker Green.

For more information, or if you have questions regarding how this might affect you, your employees, or your organization, please contact one of the following members of the Immigration Law Group at Epstein Becker Green:

New York
Robert S. Groban, Jr.
212/351-4689
rgroban@ebglaw.com

New York
Pierre Georges Bonnefil
212/351-4687
pgbonnefil@ebglaw.com

Newark
Patrick G. Brady
973/639-8261
pbrady@ebglaw.com

San Francisco
Jang Im
415/398-3500
jim@ebglaw.com

Houston
Greta Ravitsky
713/300-3215
gravitsky@ebglaw.com

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.