H-1B Cap for FY2010 Has Been Reached USA,H-1C Nonimmigrant Visa Category Ends on Dec. 21, 2009 USA

H-1B Cap for FY2010 Has Been Reached

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that, as of December 21, 2009, it has received sufficient H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for FY2010. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions that are subject to the cap and were received on December 21, 2009.

USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions for new H-1B specialty occupation workers seeking an employment start date in FY2010 that are received after December 21, 2009

H-1C Nonimmigrant Visa Category Ends on Dec. 21, 2009

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds the public that the H-1C non immigrant category expires on Dec. 21, 2009.

The H-1C non immigrant temporary worker classification authorizes the admission of up to 500 nurses annually to work in eligible health care facilities. After the original 1999 statutory authorization of the program expired in 2005, Congress reauthorized it for three years beginning Dec. 20, 2006 in the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Reauthorization Act of 2005. The statutory authority for the program has not been extended. USCIS will accept petitions until Monday, Dec. 21, 2009

This expiration does not affect the ability of H-1C nurses currently in status to continue employment during their authorized period of stay, the authority of USCIS to adjudicate a petition properly filed on or before Dec. 21, 2009, or the eligibility of the beneficiary of an approved H-1C petition to be admitted to the United States as an H-1C non immigrant.