H-1B losing sheen? Only 42,000 petitions in 1 week

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services in a statement on Thursday said it has received “approximately 42,000 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap”.

The agency would continue to accept petitions subject to the general cap.

Usually,Indians are among the major recipients of H-1B visas — meant for highly skilled workers.

USCIS noted that it has received about 20,000 petitions for aliens with advanced degrees.

“…we continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable,” the statement said.

Congress mandated that the first 20,000 of these types of petitions are exempt from any fiscal year cap on available H-1B visas.