Employers who wish to sponsor H-1B workers for Fiscal Year 2013 can begin filing petitions on April 2, 2012. The H-1B visa is used by businesses who wish to employ foreign nationals to work in a specialty occupation requiring theoretical or technical expertise. For FY 2013, cases will be considered accepted on the date that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) takes possession of the petition, not on the date it was postmarked.

There is an annual limit of 65,000 visas available for H-1B petitions, with 20,000 reserved for individuals who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher. USCIS will continuously update the public on the number of petitions it has received. If USCIS receives more than 65,000 petitions, it will conduct a lottery and randomly select petitions to be adjudicated. Petitions that are not selected in the lottery will be rejected and returned to the petitioner.

In recent years, the cap has not been reached for several months after opening on April 1; however, it is impossible to predict when the cap will be reached and petitioners should file their H-1B petitions as soon as possible.