On April 5, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had received more than the congressionally-mandated limit of 65,000 non-exempt H-1B petitions, along with over 20,000 advanced degree exempt H-1B petitions. As a result, USCIS is no longer accepting H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions otherwise exempt from the cap.

On April 7, 2013, USCIS used a “lottery” to select the requisite number of petitions to meet both the general and advanced degree exemption category cap limits. USCIS expects to send out receipts for all of these initial petitions before the end of May. Petitions not selected will be returned with filing fees.

For more information on the FY 2014 cap, please see:

• H-1B Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Cap Season

For more information on cap gap related regulations, please see

• Extension of Post Completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) and F-1 Status for Eligible Students under the H-1B Cap-Gap Regulations
• Student and Exchange Visitor Program Policy Guidance 1004-03, Section 4