US Visa: H1B visa cap reached for 2024. What’s next for ‘non-selected’ Indian candidates
The United States has reached the yearly limit for H-1B visas, with the USCIS confirming that the allotted visas for fiscal year 2024 have been exhausted.
United States has reached the yearly limit for H-1B visas, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed. The H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant work visa that allows US employers to hire foreign workers with specialized skills to work in the United States for a specific period of time.
The H-1B visa allows US businesses to hire foreign skilled labours in specialised occupations.
The USCIS stated that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to meet both the regular cap of 65,000 and the US advanced degree exemption, commonly known as the master’s cap, set at 20,000.
This means the allotted H-1B visas for fiscal year 2024 have been exhausted.
In November this year, US Had informed that they are set to begin a pilot programme for domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas in December.
The move will benefit a significantly large number of Indian technology professionals. US informed that the pilot programme will be limited to 20,000 participants.
What happens if you did not get your US H-1B visa for 2024?
The USCIS Has informed that those who had submitted applications for the H-1B visa to go to the United States, but did not get selected, they will issue a non-selection notices through online accounts.
The status will indicate 'Not Selected,' rendering them ineligible to file an H-1B visa cap petition for this registration.
The USCIS said, "We will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days."
To determine if an H-1B visa petition falls under the cap, the USCIS evaluates information gathered during the electronic registration process.
The cap includes the standard 65,000 H-1B visas and an exemption for advanced degree holders until they surpass 20,000. The annual regular cap for the H-1B category is set at 65,000, with an additional 6,800 reserved for the H-1B1 program under the US-Chile and US-Singapore free trade agreements.
Unused visas in this category become available for the next fiscal year's regular H-1B cap.
US Visa: H-1B visa important points
-USCIS has informed that they will continue to accept and process petitions exempt from the cap
-This includes current H-1B workers who still retain their cap number. These petitions serve various purposes such as extending stay duration, changing employment terms, facilitating employer changes, and allowing concurrent work in additional H-1B positions.
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Business NewsNewsWorldUS Visa: H1B visa cap reached for 2024. What’s next for ‘non-selected’ Indian candidates
First Published:14 Dec 2023, 10:01 PM IST
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