September 11, 2004 -- SEATTLE, Wash., USA -- Jobwerx News -- U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) USCIS has indicated that as of August 4, 2004, it had received 45,900 H-1B filings subject to the fiscal 2005 cap. Of those filings, 21,000 have been approved and the remainder are in the pipeline. The full quota for fiscal year 2005, which starts October 1, 2004, is 65,000 but due to 6,800 H-1B numbers set aside for use under the legislation implementing the Chile and Singapore Free Trade Agreements, the full amount available to general users is in effect 58,200.

As a practical matter, this means that the cap for fiscal year 2005 may very well be reached within a month and employers will find, for the second year in a row, that they will not have access to highly educated foreign nationals. Will Congress react? With few legislative days left in the session, it's an uphill battle. Still, if Congress returns after the election for a -lame duck- session (which appears increasingly likely), it's possible that they will take up legislation that will at least exempt from the cap Masters and PhD graduates of American universities. If this is an issue of importance to your company, contact Sandy Boyd. The NAM chairs the Compete America coalition which works to ensure access to legal, business immigration. Check out the Compete America website for more information .

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