The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in late November that it received enough H-1B petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2012 to reach the H1-B statutory cap of 65,000.

November 22, 2011, was the final receipt date for new H-1B specialty occupation petitions requesting an employment start date in FY 2012. Any H-1B petitions filed after that date will be rejected. USCIS looks at the date the petition was actually physically received by USCIS, not the date of the postmark.

This announcement only affects petitions that are subject to the annual cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: