August 20, 2004 - The American Immigration Lawyers Association today reported that according to information provided by USCIS, as of August 4, 2004 the agency had received 40,000 H-1Bs petitions countable against the fiscal year 2005 cap (October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005), and of those, 21,000 had already been adjudicated.

BAL Comment: The total number of new H-1B's permitted in a single fiscal year is 65,000 (minus some 6800 set aside for Chile and Singapore), so this means that almost 70% of available H-1B's for the next fiscal year beginning October 1, 2004 have been used up. If demand continues at this rate, the entire FY2005 allotment could be used up by October. BAL continues to encourage employers to file new H petitions as early as possible to avoid being shut out for FY2005. We are also working on efforts in Congress to increase the availability of H-1B visas. Please note: The cap does not affect same company H-1B extensions, or H-1B transfers from company to company.