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Before the global financial crisis, the cap on H1B visas was being reached on the first day that visas became available for each fiscal year. In recent years visas have continued to be available throughout the year. The latest USCIS update of 12 November 2011, confirms that over 17,000 H-1B visas are still available under the regular H-1B cap and 2,600 under the Masters Exemption for the current fiscal year.
Each year, 65,000 visas are made available under the program, with an additional 20,000 reserved for people with a Masters degree or higher. The H-1B visas available under the Master's Degree Exemption has mostly been used up for the FY 2011 H-1B visa cap.
The United States H-1B program is an US non-immigrant visa used by US businesses that wish to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations such as scientists, engineers, computer programmers, etc The job must require you to have specialized skills in a job that would normally require you to be a graduate. The H1B visa category also allows entry of fashion models.
The state of the US economy means that many companies are not hiring so many skilled workers from the resident labour force or from overseas. However, some companies such as those in the technology sector still have a hard time finding skilled workers with certain skills. For these companies, the availability of H-1B visas in the current fiscal year makes it possible for them to employ badly needed professional level workers from abroad.
