US reaches H-1B visa cap for 2024: Immigration services

WASHINGTON: The H-1B visa cap for the financial year 2024, beginning October 1, has been reached and all successful applicants have been informed about it, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has said.

In a statement on Monday, the federal agency said it has received enough electronic registrations during the initial period to reach the fiscal year 2024 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption -- the master's cap.

"We have randomly selected from the registrations properly submitted to reach the cap and have notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration," it said.

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H-1B cap-subject petitions for the financial year 2024, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may be filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) from April 1, 2023, if based on a valid, selected registration.

Only petitioners with selected registrations may file H-1B cap-subject petitions for the 2024 fiscal and only for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration notice, the USCIS said.

The US Congress has set the current annual regular cap for the H-1B category at 65,000.

Of this, 6,800 visas are set aside under the terms of the legislation implementing the US-Chile and U.S.-Singapore free trade agreements.

Unused visas in this group become available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year's regular H-1B cap.