USCIS has announced that it has filled the quota for H-1B professionals seeking an exemption under the U.S. Masters Degree exception. There are 20,000 visa approvals allowed under this exemption. Petitions received January 18th or later will be returned to the petitioner. Petitions received on January 17th will be subject to a random draw. Petitions received on January 16th will be approved, provided that they qualify for the requested visa.

Only "cap-subject" cases are affected by this quota. "Cap-subject" H-1B visas are only those cases for new hires, who have never previously held H-1B petitions. For instance, students, off shore hires, and those wishing to change from another visa classification.

"Company transfer" H-1B visas are NOT subject to the just-announced cap. Likewise, H-1B cases for some non-profit research organizations and higher education institutions are still eligible to be filed.

To view the USCIS press release, please click here:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/H1B_06Cap_011806PR.pdf