April 2nd Filing Date for H-1B Temporary Professional Workers

Employers who depend on the services of foreign professionals are gearing up for the 2007 filing date for H-1B temporary worker petitions. The H-1B program allows employers to qualify graduates for employment in “specialty occupations”, a wide-range of jobs with a threshold requirement of a college or university degree, for temporary employment in the U.S. at the prevailing regional salary level.

The CIS announcement of the reaching of the cap limitation causes concern for employers and employment candidates alike as it occurs earlier each year. This year there are forecasts that the numerical cap may be reached on the first day that petitions may be filed, Monday, April 2^nd, or shortly thereafter.

Advice that an H-1B visa petition/change of status application should be filed early enough in the fiscal year while there still are H-1B numbers available is underscored by last year’s shortfall. For the last fiscal year (2007), the regular H-1B cap was reached on May 6, 2006 more, more than four months before the start of the fiscal year.  As of July 26, 2006 the CIS had received enough H-1B petitions for U.S.-educated advanced degree recipient positions to fill the additional 20,000 H-1B numbers allocated for those persons.

The numerical limitation, combined with annual demand, creates a strategic problem for employers and graduates. Based on the LCA filing requirements, an H-1B petition cannot be filed earlier than April 1st of the calendar year preceding the October 1st start date, which represents the beginning of the next fiscal year for cap replenishment.