H1-B Specialty Worker cap reached

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently announced that the H1-B Specialty Worker cap of 65,000 visas for 2006 has already been reached.

For Brits eyeing a move to the US to work in a Specialty Occupation, typically IT or financial services but not limited to these two occupations, the announcement means that they will have to wait until next April to apply for an H1-B visa for 2007 - unless one of the various exceptions apply to them.

Exceptions to the cap include those applicants filing H-1B visas through institutions of higher education, non-profit research organisations, and government research organisations.

Furthermore, according to USCIS, the 20,000 'bonus' H1-B visas additional to the cap should remain available for several more months, but to qualify applicants must have earned a US master’s or higher degree.

Finally, it is also possible that all of the 6,800 H1-B visas reserved for the H-1B1 programme for nationals of Chile and Singapore will not be accounted for; the remainder will be made available in the 45-day period beginning 1st October - possibly to those would-be H1-B applicants not covered by the exceptional circumstances described above.